She
by Juliette Angel
Summary: Max and Logan finds love in each other, but Manticore gets in the way. Humour/Action too, but it's mainly Romance. (Complete).
1. Me

  
********************************************************************  
Part 1  
Logan's 7:30 AM  
  
When I opened my eyes, I could see for the non sunshine in my bedroom that  
it was a rainy day...  
" What a surprise here in Seattle!", but I don't mind, as a  
fact, I like the rain. I turned my head on the left side of the bed to  
look at the empty place. I took a deep breath.  
" Deam on boy! It's certainly not for today."  
I sat in the bed to get my thoughts togheter and grabed the chair. My belly  
was telling me to eat something, but the events of last day were bouncing  
in my head.  
I saw a note from Bling on the table:  
" Dont look for the tape of the shooting, I took it.  
Now, think of something else."  
  
" Yeah, easy to do my friend, but you're not the one having to cope  
with it!" I took a bowl and put some Post-Pulse Cheerios in it.  
" Doesn't taste the same to me..." I open the door to take the  
milk and began to eat, alone, as usual in the mornings.  
"Nothing new here." The only time I used to eat with someone was  
when I was a little boy. I could picture my mother sitting in front of me,  
putting Cheerios in my bowl with her beautiful smile. She was the best! As  
for my father, well, I didn't like him very much. He was never at the  
house and when he was, all he could talk about is his work. " Well, I  
guest that side of me is comming from him." It was just days ago that  
Max had told me that.  
" HEY son! You have to know that in the company, you can't allow  
yourself to be friends with the employe. Do you know why son? It's because  
when you're finding them lazy on the job, you have to fire them! They are just  
people doing what you tell them to do, they don't think, you're the one  
thinking for them...don't ever forget that son! Your ideas are the futur  
of the company!" And he would pat me on the shoulder. And then my mom  
would say:" Edward, let the boy alone for God's sake, he's only  
8!" But my grumpy father mould say that there is no age for the  
successor of his company to learn how it works. I was so afraid of him and  
his big mouth that I never told him I didn't care for the company.  
But the truth is that my mom knew I wouldn't run his company. "It's  
just not in you" she said to me one day. Well, they never found out.  
I was 20 when they got on a boat to go through the Ocean Atlantic for a  
trip in Paris. I was at Nicolas's house, my best friend at the time, when  
I learned that the boat has exploded. I didn't go because I didn't like  
those trips. They were with a couple of friends and it was only  
buisness-talk and high-class everything. My father was sure he would have  
been a King if he lived some centuries ago. WHAT AN EGO!  
So I got the bag of money that came along with it, and after that, it was  
the same days after days.  
I got suddenly very interresting for the girls I knew, and I made a bunch  
of friends. But I'm not stupid, I knew it was for my money. One day Nick  
came at my appartment, he was in a bad shape. It has been a few months i  
had see him and I didn't take the time to talk to him. I had a date with a  
lady...so I closed the door on his face and told him " I 'll call you  
tomorrow! I swear!" And ran to my car to meet Valerie. "  
Oh!...if only I knew !" But the day after, he didn't answer his  
phone, nor the day after. So I called his parents to ask where he was.  
Found out he had killed himself. Hang actually. First my parents, now him.  
That was too much! So I went to Yale to study journalism, got married  
to Val, lived a life of lies with her, and then got divorced. "  
Life's great!"  
And then, I got nauseated just at the sight of the company, I sold it for  
many billions, I wont stave to death that's for sure, gave to Val more  
than what she deserved cuz I didn't want to see her again, and I decided  
then to create Eyes Only. I was sick to see how thw poor people are being  
played by powerful man just like my father was.  
I swore to myself that i wouldn't become him and I started to help the  
downtroddens. It was a pure delivrance to help the world I live in  
with my money. " What else have I got?"  
Years passed and I found myself sick of being played by ladies because my  
wallet is full. And it got more and more hard to hide Eyes Only from the  
female I dated because i never wanted them to come here. All the computer  
stuff is very questionnable...  
And THEN, Max...oh! Max...  
  
" DRING! DRING!" The phone was ringing, probably Max...How long  
was I in my toughts?  
" Hey!..." Yes, it was her. I smiled.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	2. The date

  
  
" Logan, I have to talk to you. Will you be there after work?"  
Max said. Of course stupid he'll be there. That was very lame. And now, I  
have to find something to ask him. A favor or something...as usual.  
  
" You know i'll be here." She sounds funny, maybe it's just me.  
  
" OK then, see ya !"  
  
" Later...oh! Max? " Damn, she hung up...  
  
" Yeah?"  
  
" Would you like to stay for diner?" Anything to keep her near.  
  
" T'was my idea...want me to bring something?" Yeah, like he'll  
tell you: Sure, bring the pasta!  
  
" Just yourself will be good..." Did I say that out loud?  
  
" Fine." That was almost intense.  
  
" What are you smilin at Boo?" She had that Original Cindy look  
on her face." Spill it out Sugar because you know I'll find  
out."  
  
" Nothing! You always think there is something behind. Can a girl  
smile just for the fun of it?"  
" Someone stold Max! Help!" She was crying out loud at the Jam  
Pony.  
  
"Ok, stop it!" She's impossible..." Logan told me something  
nice and I'm enjoying it. No big dealio." Liar, it IS a big dealio!  
  
" I knew it! Mr. Richy's got a thing for you...and you have it for  
him too! Original Cindy has a sent of the human heart. Never been wrong.  
Nope!" She was giving the 'I told you so' look!  
  
" Yeah, yeah, now we better moove our butts before Normal freaks  
out!"  
  
" Yeah, sure, when i'm right it's always time to change  
subjects..."  
  
" By the way, I never said you were..." And I gave here a big  
smile and took off on my bike. I was riding on the street when I saw a  
young girl all curled up near the trash. She didn't look very good.  
" Hey? Are you OK? " When she saw me she just took off. As I  
walked near the trash can and found out seringes.  
  
" Well I'm not the only one having problems..." I saw a little  
bottle and grabed it. " Maybe I should bring that to Logan..."  
  
  
********************************  
That's it for tonight, I have to study.  
So what do you think? Spill it out, but dont be too harsh please.  
  
Anna a.k.a Juliette Angel  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	3. Stranger

  
Part 3  
  
I looked again in the street to see if the girl wasn't spying on me.  
Nothing. Poor girl, she was all shaky.  
  
I put the bottle near my eyes. It was in glass, like a vial of medication,  
and it was labled INSULINE in an handwritting. No other words, not even  
indications on how to use it. Strange.  
  
But what's really bogging me is that there seems to be glue on it, and the  
paper is all scratch up. Was there an other lable covering this one?  
  
And why did she ran away from me?  
I scratched my head and put it in my pocket.  
"Better hurry up!" I took my bike and made the deliveries of the  
day.  
  
It was 4: 30 when i came back at the Jam Pony. The place was empty. But  
Normal was still there.  
  
" Hey! Normal! " He raised his head and looked at me as if to  
say 'what do you want ?' " Be relax man, it's just a question."  
  
" Then ASK." He seemed so happy...  
  
" Did you see my girl? "  
  
" No, she left a little while ago...need anything else? " Oh  
yeah, he thinks he's so smart!  
  
" Well, if you insist, 50 would be great!" And I offered my hand  
as I said it with a smile.  
  
" Get lost!" He told me with his gesture to go away.  
  
" Girl's got to try...!" I just love to piss him off.  
  
I got home to take a shower and change before going to Logan.  
Logan...Sometimes I can't figure out this guy. There are days, say  
seconds, that he glance at me with those beautiful blue eyes of him and  
that smile to die for, and I feel special. And BOOM!, all of it is gone  
and he just can't put his eyes on me anymore. I ask myself 'What did i  
say?', and I find nothing. NIET!  
  
I know all of IT is hard for him, but still, it's been a while. And he has  
to be aware of the fact that IT doesn't matter to me. I like him, and so  
what? He's in a weelchair, ' I don't mind'. Do I?...No , I don't...I can  
adjust to anything, it's in my gene right?  
  
I grabed my coat and stormed out before I could hear Kendra telling me to  
'Enjoy it!" With Kendra, I never know what the IT means!!  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	4. I forgot!

De: annidura@total.net  
À: annidura@total.net  
Objet: Fwd: She  
Date : 7 février, 2001 20:02  
  
This message is from FOX: Dark Angel. It was forwarded to you by  
ANNA7712.  
  
You can view it in the context of the entire discussion by going to:  
http://forums.prospero.com/foxdarkangel/messages/?msg=4658.9  
  
  
  
  
  
=======================Forwarded Message=======================  
  
Forum: the FOX: Dark Angel Forum  
Subject: She  
From: (ANNA7712)  
To: (ANNA7712)  
DateTime: 1/29/2001 5:24:24 PM  
  
Part 4  
  
Logan's 5:00 PM  
  
Bling was helping with the food in the kitchen. They had done some muscle  
work in the afternoon. And since it had take some time, he insisted to  
help.  
I went to the bathroom to take a shower. The place had changed so much  
since the accident. Everything was in place to help me shower alone. It  
would have been the end of the world to me if I could not wash myself. I  
sat on the plastic chair in the shower. There was holes in it to let the  
water fall down. I rolled it and opened the hot water. It felt really  
good.  
" Man, you're gonna explode!" was the words Bling was telling me  
a few days ago. I wont, I know it's hard to understand, but I HAD to watch  
the tape. I had to. It was like going to your own funeral, but only to  
begin a new life. And I can't say I don't like my life. Because I do. And  
the part I like has Max in it. I wonder if she would have come back if I  
never got shot...it's not fair to think like that.  
I got out of the shower and went to my room to dress up. What will I put  
on? Look at me...I'm all like a girl! " Oh! Yeah, you can laugh at  
yourself." I took my blue sweater and pull it on. That would be fine.  
Did Max asked herself what to wear?  
  
Bling was putting the phone down when I got in the room.  
  
" Who was it?"  
  
" Your cousin Isabella telling me to tell you she's bringing Sophie  
in 15 minutes!!..." His face was all like ' What the heck is that?'  
  
My eyes went wide open.  
" DAMN! I forgot! How could I forget that?"It's not like me to  
forget.  
  
" You're asking me? I don't even know what you're talking  
about." He stared at me. " What's going on?"  
  
I scratched my hair and told him that my cousin had call a few weeks ago  
to ask me to keep her daughter for a week or so while she's on a vacation.  
  
" So now I can't say no..."  
  
" Nope!" He's smiling at me!  
  
" Are you laughing at me?"  
  
" I'm just drawing in my head the face that Max will have when she'll  
open the door to find you with a little baby on your lap!" Oh, he's  
enjoying this too much. " What I'd give to see that!"  
  
" Well Bling, you wont." I gave him his coat.  
  
He was still smiling...  
" Bling!"  
  
" OK, OK, Have a good evening..."He closed the door behind him.  
  
I took a deep breath...  
  
" And Max will be here in a minute...oh boy!"  
The doorbell rang.  
  
  
  
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	5. Bella

I just want to say that I'm trying very hard with my english because I'm  
speaking french 90% of the day, so I'm sorry if there are some spelling   
errors in the text, I'm really doing my best. Thanks for your   
understanding!  
**********************************  
Part 5  
  
Logan took a deep breath and opened the door. It wasn't Max, but Isabella,  
his cousin, with her little girl Sophie. She gave him a big smile and a  
hug and she kissed him on the cheeks.  
  
" Hey Logan." She stared at him with kindness in her eyes."  
Mom told me about the accident, and I'm so happy to see you're still  
breathtaking!" Dear Bella, it's so her not to say 'Sorry you can't  
walk anymore'. I smiled.  
  
" Just give me that gorgeous daughter of yours!" She was so tiny  
in my arms. " Hello Sophie, I'm your uncle Logan." She wasn't  
interrested at all by what I was telling her. Kids.  
  
" Come in for a minute. " We went in the living room and she sat  
on the sofa." She looks just like you Bella."  
  
" I know, " she was happy about it," she has my blue eyes,  
my blond hair and my smile, but she got her father's nose!"  
  
" How old is she?" Sophie was in my lap, very calm.  
  
" She's 10 months, so you have to take care because she began to sit  
alone and stand up, but to stand up alone she needs the sofa...or a chair!  
And she can say Mom too, and Dad!" She was proud.  
  
" Oh! You can Sophie! You're such a big girl!..."  
  
" Well Logan, I have to go now because my husband's waiting for me in  
the car, and I dont want to miss the plane." She took her purse and  
stood up." Are you sure you'll be fine? I mean..."  
  
" Dont worry, I'll be fine, besides I can have some help if  
needed."  
  
" Who?" She wanted to know so bad!  
  
" Someone..." Yeah right!  
  
" Hum...that smells like a 'she' more than an 'he'..."  
  
" Bye Bella! See you in a week!"  
  
" I'll come and pick her at 8 sunday evening." She kissed her  
daughter and as I was presenting my cheek she said:" You got  
enough!"  
  
" And what if I want to keep her?"  
  
" Believe me...you wont! Thank you again." And she closed the  
door behind her.  
  
" Why did Mom say that Kid, are you a monster?" And she looked  
at me and giggled.  
  
" Great..." Just as I said those words there were knocks on the  
door and it opened.  
Max got in the room and stoped right in front of me. Her eyes went like  
two apples and her mouth fell down. I almost burst into laughs.  
  
" Max, I present you Sophie...my niece." I could see the relief  
in her face. So, she would have cared if she has been mine.  
  
" Oh!...hello Kido!" Girl! You almost got an heart attack here!  
  
  
  



	6. Sophie

  
  
  
Max took a good look at Logan.  
He had Sophie on his lap and seemed very comfortable. He was playing with  
her, teasing her. She was smiling so I guess she liked it.  
Logan turned his head towards Max.  
  
" Would you mind taking Sophie for a minute?" He began to left  
her when Max said abruptly:  
  
" NO! I don't want to hurt her, you know, what if I hold her too  
tight?" She must be kidding me with that lame excuse.  
  
" Max, don't be foolish. You wont kill her. I'm sure you took care of  
one somewhere in your life." As if.  
  
" A CHILD yeah!, but not a BABY! " She was upset. " Just  
look at her...she's so small! " No way I'm taking her.  
  
" Don't be so childish." That will make her hangry!  
' Who does he think he is to call me a child? I'm not a child, never was  
and never will be nobody's child!'  
  
" You call me that again and I'll beat on your skinny @ss!" You  
want attitude, you'll get it!  
  
" For the record, I do NOT have a skinny @ss." Why does  
everybody keeps saying that?  
  
" For the record, I DIDN'T have baby-sitting classes at  
Manticore." Like I'm supposed to know everything in this goddamn  
world.  
  
" Fine. Now, will you take her please? She wont bite you I  
promess." I can't say the same for me...  
  
Max leant near Logan, so near her hair was touching his face, and took  
Sophie in her arms. 'Gee! He's smelling sooo gooood!'  
  
" Max..." He was almost laughing. " You can hold her closer  
to your heart, that way she'll feel better. " Mr. Knows-it-all! I  
hate it when he's right.  
  
" What are you doing?" He was wheeling from one room to the  
other.  
  
" I'm just looking for the playground park. Bella put it on the  
sofa...Ah! there it is. " He opened it." There little girl, you  
can play all you want now. " Max layed her in there and Sophie  
started to cry." Why is she crying? Kids.  
  
"She must like you!"  
  
" Na, I think she's hungry. That much I DO know!" Like  
me...right! Well, at least if it's true, there's one in the family who  
does express her feelings more than others. Let me try something...  
  
" I like that blue sweater on you." Didn't even move an inch!  
  
" Have you seen a bag with breast milk in it?"  
  
" A what?!!"  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	7. Sophie again!

De: annidura@total.net  
À: annidura@total.net  
Objet: Fwd: She  
Date : 7 février, 2001 19:43  
  
  
  
*********************************************  
  
Logan stared at Max in a way that he was the only one to do so.  
  
" Breast milk. You know milk that comes from..." He didn't have  
the time to finish his sentence.  
  
" I know what breast milk is. It's just that I figured that, you  
know, with the money and everything, I thought that she, maybe, would  
bottlefeed the baby. " How can I get out of this? " Easier, you  
know?"  
  
" Why easier? " What is she talking about? " What's easier  
in this economy: brestfeeding your kid or looking everywhere for formulas  
that wont be contaminated by who knows what?"  
  
" Whatever."  
  
" Nevermind."  
  
" So, said Logan, What did you want to talk to me about?" Did  
she forgot?  
  
" Oh!...humm..." Think! Think! Think! " Oh! I know!" I  
really shouldn't have said it out loud.  
  
Max went to her coat and took the vial from her pocket.  
  
" I found that this morning. It was by the trash, and the girl who  
had this was looking very strange. She ran like a bunny when she saw me,  
and I'm not figuring it out because this is a bottle of insulin..."  
  
" Ah! I found it!"  
  
" What? " Did I ask him to find something?  
  
" The breastmilk." He wasn't listening to me.  
  
" Am I spending good saliva on you here?" I dare you to ask me  
to repeat.  
  
" Of course not...insulin, bla, bla, bla." He put the bottles in the  
freezer and took one to heat it.  
  
" So, as I was saying this is insulin, it's not illegal drugs or  
anything, just hormones." Logan grabed the vial and went to the  
computer.  
  
" That's weird, did you see the glue on it?"  
  
" Yeah Colombo, I saw it, it got stuck on my fingers."  
  
" And what about the handwriting, it's strange. I should get in touch  
with my informant net to see if he knows anything." He began his  
research while I got occupied with Sophie.  
  
" At least, this way, he's not teasing me on how I should hold you  
while you're drinking your milk." I was speaking very low for Logan  
not to hear me. " And later, you'll eat some good stuff, yeah he's a  
Chef your uncle, just don't tell him, OK?" And Sophie stared at me with  
her big blue eyes.  
  
" Oh! I know that look. Don't give me that look!"  
  
  
  



	8. I know nothing about babies

  
  
Logan's 6:30pm  
  
Max was feeding Sophie who was happily sitting in her highchair. Logan had  
cook some vegetables and meat for her and she seemed to enjoy it a great  
deal. Every time Max approched the spoon, her mouth went wide open, ready  
to recieve more food.  
  
Max made a wink at Sophie and Logan saw it.  
  
" What?" Those two are plotting something.  
  
" Oh, nothing, said Max innocently, it's between her and me...a girl  
thing!" I told you you'd like the food!  
  
" Ok then, I wont ask further more!" Max is enjoying doing the  
mother stuff...  
  
" By the way, what are we eating? " I'm starving...  
  
" It's an Asian meal, you'll love it." Another food miracle of  
mine!  
  
" What's in it?" I hope I'll like it because it's smelling  
weird.  
  
" Well, there are vegetables, porc, rice...why do you ask?"  
Usually, she just eat what I cook without asking what's in it.  
  
" Humm, it's because, huh, there is an odour in my nose right now that  
tells me not to eat that."  
  
' What! There is nothing here that doesn't smell fabulous! ' He though.  
Logan came near Max and his face changed color, and then he regained it,  
passed from white to red and bursted into laughs.  
  
" Max, -he was gasping for air- Max, oh!, God!, it's not my food you're  
smelling...it's Sophie!" Maybe I should go change her diaper.  
  
" Logan -now that was Max who was laughing- I'm so sorry! "  
Damn! Why didn't I think of it? Gee, how can a little pee like that smells  
like this!! ?  
  
Logan returned from the bathroom and Sophie was ready to play now.  
" Well, Honey, now it's time for Uncle Logan to eat, or he will die  
from autodigestion." He put her in her park with her toys.  
  
" It's smelling better now?" He was smiling at her.  
  
" Wonderful..." She wasn't looking at him.  
  
" Max, it's OK. Don't beat yourself up because there are things you  
are not familiar with. All that little girl ask of you is for you to love  
her and make her feel well and safe, and you can do that. She doesn't care  
on how you do it and if you make mistakes. Children are not like  
adults."  
  
' Tell me about it!' Max though.  
  
  



	9. I'm no Princess

  
  
The day after at the Jam Pony  
NOON  
  
Max was getting dressed up in the back place, where the lockers are. She'd  
spill some ketchup on her shirt during lunch time. Original Cindy had a  
shirt in her locker and was landing it to Max.  
  
" I told you girl you were going to paint yourself in red with the  
tons of that sh1t you put in your burger!" I wonder how she stays so  
thin while eating like a bear...must be in the genes.  
  
" But it was good!" Max finished getting the shirt on when  
Sketchy came to tell her that 'someone' wanted to see her at Normal's  
desk. He had a weird smile on his face.  
  
"What's with him?" Concerning Sketchy? It could be anything.  
  
" Beats me Boo! " The day I'll understand this guy, I'll be  
straight!  
  
" I wonder who wants to see me at lunch time..." Liar. You know  
it's probably Logan.  
  
" Maybe it's your secret lover...?!" said Original Cindy with  
half-a-smile. Max made her a grimace and walked away.  
  
Logan was waiting at the desk with Sophie in his arms. The light came on  
her face.  
  
" Hello sweety!" Max took Sophie from Logan.  
  
" Hey to you too." He smiled at Max and there was a devil's  
glance in his eyes.  
  
" I was talking to your niece Logan..." Like I'd call you sweety  
just like that. You wish!  
  
" Damn!" It was Original Cindy's voice behind them. She walked  
near them, stared at Logan, and then at Max, and then at Sophie. " I  
knew it would come one day, but not that fast!" She looked Logan  
right in the eyes and said with almost no voice: " You must have  
super powers!" His face went red and he didn't know where to look,  
what to do or say.  
  
" Stop it Boo!" Said Max with a smile." You know very well  
she's not 'ours'. This is Logan's NIECE Sophie." She succeded because  
his eyes are still fixing his feet.  
  
" Help me Boo! Original Cindy's heart's melting! Isn't she the  
cuttest thing you've ever seen? Can I take her?"  
  
" Sure." That girl sure knows how to make me feel uncomfortable.  
  
" Sugar, said she at Sophie, you'll break hearts at 20!" She  
took off with her and went to see Sketchy and Herbal.  
  
Logan breated deeply and left his head up.  
" Max, I got a link this mornig and found out where the illegal  
laboratory is. The sooner we do this, the better it will be." What's  
with the shirt today? 'GIRLS RULE!' Must be Original Cindy's.  
  
" OK. Where is it?" I'll go take a peek...  
  
" I'm not telling you. " Max's face was asking why." I know  
you Max, you'll go without me and I refuse to let you do that." If  
she thinks she can put me aside, she better think again!  
  
" I went alone in the earlier past." You're not my bodyguard.  
  
" Yeah! and look what it almost did!" He was pissed off that she  
wanted to go alone." What if something happens to you?"  
  
" And then, what will you do?" I can take care of myself...I'm  
not used to people taking care of me. Maybe that's it.  
  
" Something!" Good answer Logan...oh,you really got a point  
here.  
  
" Sorry Prince charming but Princess doesn't need to be rescued from  
her tower."  
  
" Forget it Max, I'm not telling you and I'm going. Liking it or  
not."  
  
" And what if you're the one that gets into trouble?" Got'ya!  
  
" I wont'cuz I'll stay out of the danger zone, waiting in the  
car." That sounds so chivalrous...  
  
" Right." My ride ticket.  
  
" What is that supposed to mean?" Like I'm always doing nothing!  
  
" Relax, I was just agreeing with you." He's freaking out today.  
  
" Right." Now I'm the one agreeing? " Can I have my girl  
back?" Let's just get out of here!  
  
" Sure." She went and came back with Sophie.  
  
" 7 o'clock, my place?" Don't argue, I'm in no mood.  
  
" And what about her?" Don't tell me you want to bring her?!  
  
" Bling can baby-sit for an hour or so."  
  
" Fine." She turned her back and walked away.  
  
" Goodbye to you too." And he wheeled themselves out of Jam  
Pony.  
  
************************  
Please don't forget to give me reviews! Thanks.  
  
  



	10. Sleeping Beauty

  
  
Logan's 7 pm  
  
Max entered the room without knocking. Logan was sitting behind his  
computer.  
  
" Hey." She looked right at him without blinking, without any  
expression.  
  
" Hey Max." He turned himself to face her." Look, I'm sorry  
about earlier. I just don't want you to get in trouble, or hurt, and not  
having anyone else that knows where to reach you, OK?" Why is that so  
hard to understand?  
  
" Understood." you could articulate the true reason why...  
  
" So, are you ready?" Big mistake.  
  
" I've been since noon!" Got'ya again!!  
  
He looked at her very seriously.'I knew she was going to say something  
like that!'  
  
" OK.OK. Was tryin' to make a joke here..." Wouldn't hurt him to  
light up once in a while!  
  
They went down the building and she sat in the car. She didn't help Logan  
to get in because he always insist to do it alone. And the first time she  
asked him if he needed help, the look on his face was so hard to forget  
that she never asked again. It was like she had just cut him open.  
He finally sat and put the wheelchair in the back.  
  
" So, what's my mission Captain?" I almost sound like Zach.  
  
" Your 'mission' is to break into the lab and take a sample of the  
insulin, since the one you've brought me is empty. And I also want the  
contract, if you can find it, of the person that's in charge and to whom  
he's selling his stuff at the big company. Because my guess is that the  
owner of Nevelin, the 'big company', has no clue he's getting crap mixed  
up with his good insulin."  
  
" Piece of cake!" It is quite routine.  
  
" And then, you come back here."  
  
" That part I'm pretty sure I wont forget." As if." Nothing  
else?"  
  
" Well, since you're asking, there may be security guards or lab  
technicians left at this hour." Better tell her before she gets my  
head off!  
  
" Thanks for the tip! " Max made him a 'Marilyn Monroe' look,  
you know the one with the half-smile-half-eyes opened.  
  
" You're welcome." I wonder sometimes if she knows how  
attractive I find her.  
*****************  
  
Max walked away from the car and ran to the building. It was a little  
place that you never would have thought they were producing illegal  
medications there. She took a look into the window that was just in front  
of her. No one. She slid the right part of the window in silence and  
jumped into the room. 'I can't understand why people are so careless they  
forget to lock up.' There was no light in the room, but she could see  
perfectly well, just needed a little adjustment of her iris and everything  
was settle. She took a peek in the hallway and it seemed clear. ' Almost  
too easy.' She spotted the door on the left side of the wall and opened  
it. It seemed to be an office, but not very ordered. 'Somebody should clean  
this place! More hard work for me!' She began searching for some kind of  
paper/contract that could give a link to whom they are doing their  
transactions with, but didn't find anything.  
" How am I suppose to find something in this freakin' mess?"  
It's at this moment that she noticed the red light flashing on the  
answering machine. 'That could help.' Max pushed the button and listened:  
" Harvey, it's O'Neil. Something came up and I can't take the  
deliveries tomorrow evening. I have to represent my boss at some charity  
event. I can't miss that, you know. Anyway, I'll call you the day after.  
Bye." He hung up.  
Max took the tape and put it in her pocket. 'Nothing else to do in here!'  
She opened the door, made sure there was nobody and and got out. She heard  
noises comming from another room, looked inside through the glass window,  
and saw monkeys. She turned the locket and got in. There was 2 monkeys, a  
cat, and what looked like a rat. 'Poor thing...I know how it feels to have  
experiments done on you.' There was a table with a kind of gun, a  
tranquilizer, the one with shoots in it to make the angry animal sleep.  
And there was insulin vials too, the one with the handwriting. BINGO! She  
took one and put it in the other pocket.  
The monkey who's name was Sooky became agitated and that made the others  
noisy. " Come on Sooky, don't you like me?" But he didn't stop  
and the noise became very loud. 'Sh1t!' Max heard the door open and she  
saw a guy in a white medical jacket.  
  
" Hey! who are you?"  
  
" Your Sweety Pie!" She stoped smiling and kicked him in the  
chest. He gasped for air, and that gave her time to run away in the  
hallway.  
  
" Stop or I'll shoot!" She heard him say. Didn't kick him hard  
enough!  
  
She continued to ran and got to the front door. But just before she could  
open it, she felt a sting on the left side of her neck. It didn't stop  
her, in fact, it made her run like hell! She opened the door of Logan's  
car and got in.  
  
" GO! NOW!" She did not have to say more words that the car was  
flying away. Logan looked at her and saw the needle-like in her neck.  
  
" What's that?" Max touched it with her left hand and pulled it  
out of her flesh. Sounded like it hurts.  
  
" I guess he tried to put me to sleep with a tranquilizer." Said  
Max to him with a big smile of victory. "And my second guess is that  
he didn't succeed!" A single military second later she fell  
unconscious on Logan's lap. Her face was up, 'facing' him. 'She looks like  
Sleeping Beauty...' Logan thought.  
  
" It didn't work you said?!" He smiled at her and softly set  
aside the strand of hair that was lying on her cheek.  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	11. Fever

  
  
Logan's place 8:30 pm  
  
" Bling! Can you help me?" Logan just got in front of his  
appartment door and yelled in front of it. Bling opened the door and saw  
Max unconscious in his arms.  
  
" What happened? Is she alright?" Bling tried to take her from  
him but Logan said NO.  
  
" Just keep the door open for me please." He got into the room  
and went to his bedroom. There, he took good care of gently putting Max on  
the bed. "I don't know if she's okay Bling. It's been an hour now  
that she collapsed. But just before, she said some guy tried to 'put her  
to sleep', so I guess there must have been some sort of tranquilizer in  
the needle that stung her. "  
'He almost looks scared.' Bling thought.  
  
" Do you want me to stay longer? " He knows I'll do it if he  
needs me to.  
  
" No, no, go Bling. Everything will probably be fine. She'll sleep  
for a couple of hours and then wake up and, no, I'll be fine...but thanks  
for asking, I appreciate." He asked 'cuz he knows I wouldn't have  
dare to ask him.  
  
" OK man, it's your call. So, Sophie is in her bed, she's an angel  
that child." He padded Logan on the shoulder and opened the door.  
" If there's anything..."  
  
" I will."  
  
Logan came back to his room and stared at Max. She wasn't looking so good,  
she was all flushed. He got near her, touched her cheeks and her  
forehead and frowned.  
  
" Max you're burning...I don't like that." He went to the  
kitchen and grabed a big bowl, added ice and cold water in it and took it  
back. He put the bowl on the night table beside the bed and whelled  
himself to the bathroom. He then took a towel and came back to Max.  
  
" We have to make that fever fall Max." She was so hot that  
she was all wet from the sweat. Logan soaked the towel in the cold water  
and delicately put it on Max's forehead.  
  
" It's not enough..." He went again in the bathroom to take  
another towel." There..." That one was on the back of her neck.  
The first one was already hot. The fever wasn't going down, in fact, it  
was worst than before.  
  
" What's going on here?" Logan didn't know what to do anymore.  
She became very agitated and started mumbling.  
  
" Max, I don't understand..." She's trying to tell me something!  
" Max, if you're fighting the drug, forget it, it's not worth it to  
make you sick!" Damn!, that girl is stubborn!  
  
" Nnooo..." said Max in a voice she probably wanted strong but  
was indeed very weak. She opened her eyes and stared at Logan. " The  
drug...not g...good...mix...Trypto...phan...less..." and she went  
into some kind of delirium and started convulsing. Logan talked to her to  
calm her down, but with no success.  
'What is she trying to tell me?' Assembling his thoughts and Max's was  
hard to do while he had to change her towels for fresh ones...  
  
" OK, she said the drug and Tryptophan. not a good mix...so, the  
tranquilizer must compete in her brain to bound itself with what the  
Tryptophan does usually...so the Tryptophan is less effective??" I  
ain't no doctor, how am I supposed to know?! " I feel so dumb!"  
  
He went to the medecine cabinet and searched for the bottle of Tryptophan  
he had bought a few months ago in case Max needed some and forgot hers for  
some reason.  
When he came back to the bedroom, Max was in a very bad shape.  
  
" Oh, you look bad..." Logan analysed the situation. "  
Max?" The look she gave him had great effort in it, but she managed  
to make eye contact anyway." Max, can you swallow the pill?" She  
recongnized it by the shape and color and she tried to say yes with her  
head, but wasn't very successful.  
  
" Good enough for me." He put the Tryptophan in Max's mouth and  
lift up her head to ease her from swallowing the big white pill. Max  
waited for the seizure to fade a moment and swallowed it. He took a deep  
breath.  
  
" Good!" I love it when she listens to me!  
  
" Hot..." Like I don't know you are...  
  
" I know, and if I don't cool the fever, you'll be convulsing because  
of it." She closed her eyes.  
  
" Max! Stay with me!" Reopened them. " Now I have to do  
something else, because you're burning up too fast. You trust me right?  
So, I'll take you under the shower, OK?" Does she have a choice here?  
  
" 'kay..." An other seizure took the hold of her, and then fade  
a bit.  
  
" I have to take off your clothes,OK? Because it's not the clothes I  
want to cool down." Oh, Gee!  
  
Logan locked his chair and sat on the bed beside Max, took her in his arms  
and left her. She rested her head on his left shoulder.  
  
" Max, hold on to me as much as you can, I'll take your shirt  
off." She made all the effort possible at the moment. " It's  
good, hang on." He took it off one arm after the other. She had a  
tank-top under it. He smiled. " Gotta love the twin-set!" A  
tank-top, it's good for me, she can keep it under the shower. What a  
relief...  
He laid her on the bed and began unzipping her boots, and then her  
pants. 'So help me God!' He decided it was probably better for his mental  
health not to look while taking her pants off.  
  
" Hang on Max, it's almost done"  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	12. Would she, or wouldn't she?

  
  
Logan sat in the chair, took Max on his lap in a way that he was able to  
wheeled themselves in the direction of the bathroom. He turned on the cold  
water and the hot water to make it just cold enough...no need to freeze to  
death!  
  
" There you go." He repositionned himself to be at ease and felt  
her trembling a little. ' Probably the onset of the seizure,' he thought.  
She was still flushed, her eyes were closed and her respiration rate was  
very low.  
  
"Come on Max, stay with me! Open your eyes!" No answer. He  
shaked her gently and touched her face. " Max, open those gorgeous  
big brown eyes of yours!" It worked.  
  
" Good!" She started convulsing again and her eyes fixed  
Logan's.  
  
" I know." He softly stroke her face. She had told him how sick  
she was of her 'Manticore body' defects.  
  
The next seizure was so bad that Logan had to hold so tight to Max that he  
thought he'd broken her a rib. It calmed down and he gave her another pill.  
' I think it's been an hour that we're under the water...at least the  
fever's droping.' He told himself. Max's cheeks were less scarlet than earlier. She'd put  
her head on Logan's chest. He shivered from the cold. Max left her left  
hand and touched Logan's face without looking at him.  
  
"Logan, I'm fine now..." He decided to check over her forehead  
with his cheeks to make sure she had told him the truth, and she did. He then  
kissed her, on the forehead, and turned the water off.  
They got out of the shower, and grabed a dry towel in the way out to the  
bedroom because they looked like wet ducks.  
With Max's help, he sat her on the edge of the bed. She took a deep breath  
to help ease the trembling and looked at him. She smiled.  
  
" Look at you! You're all wet."  
  
" So are you." Yeah, now it's time to make fun of me...she's  
back! He opened his wardrobe and took a T-shirt and a pair of shorts.  
" There, put on whatever you want. I mean, put them both on..."  
  
" OK." Did she just agree with me? I should write it down.  
  
" He got out of the room after being sure she was fine, and went into  
Sophie's. She was sleepng peacefully in her bed. ' Bless that child for  
being so calm.' He closed the door behind him and went to the laundry room  
to put a shirt and boxers on, clean ones.  
He headed for the kitchen and decided tea would be nice since there is  
almost no blood flow in his body right now.  
  
" Max?" He knocked on the door before going in. She was  
wearing the shirt and shorts on.  
  
" I'm so tired." Her eyes went from opened to closed without  
stopping.  
  
" Don't worry about it Max, just sleep in my bed. I'll go sleep on  
the sofa." She snuggled under the sheets and closed her eyes.  
  
" I wont bite you...unless you want me to!" And she fell asleep.  
  
Logan smiled at her in disbelief and closed the door in silence. 'Oh! Max,  
you really are something.' He drank his tea and saw midnight on the clock.  
'Better get some sleep.' He lied down on the couch and tried to get some  
sleep...didn't work very well. Two o'clock.  
  
"Well, she said she wouldn't mind...", so he sat up, and wheeled  
himself toward the bedroom.  
  
  
  
  
  



	13. Fuzzy feelings

  
Logan's  
2:00 in the morning  
  
Max was still sleeping when Logan got into the room. She was still pinky  
on the cheeks, but it only made her look healty. Her breathing was on a  
regular basis, so he figured she was indeed sleeping. 'Good!', he thought.  
Logan got under the sheets on the right side of the bed, since Max was on  
the left one.  
  
He looked at her, she was slightly shaking, but that was normal, after  
all, she still had the sleeping drug in her system.  
  
'She looks so sweet when she's sleeping...how can a girl kicking a$$es  
most part of a day look so sweet during the night?' Probably because this  
girl is Max. 'She's so beautiful.' Logan turned his head to make it  
straight and closed his eyes to concentrate in order to let the calmness  
of the night seize him and put him to sleep. But it didn't worked, he  
couldn't stop thinking.  
  
All he could think of was Max lying there,just beside him, in his clothes,  
in his bed. 'I'm going crazy here!' Logan remembered the events of the  
night. He thought about the softness of her skin under his fingers while  
he was trying to get her clothes of, and he thought about them hanging on  
to each other under the water in the shower, he also thought about the way  
she rested her head on his chest, and how her hand softly caressed his  
face. ' Stop it!' he told himself, but without any success. His heart  
began to beat faster and faster.  
Logan remembered how deep her eyes were when she looked at him, how  
wonderful her hair smelled, and he felt again the sweet kiss he gave her  
on the forehead and how he had wish it was elsewhere. And then he thought  
how good it felt to be so near Max.  
But what Logan most thought of, was how fast she makes his heart beat  
whenever he's an inch away from her. And now, at this precise moment, all  
he could feel was his heart racing up, his breath getting louder and  
faster, and the so present fuzzy feeling that overcame him. 'I so want to  
touch you...' Will he dare? 'Maybe I should leave while it's still  
time...' Logan didn't have the time to move an inch that Max almost rolled  
over him. She put her head on his chest and her left hand near his neck.  
She moved again, trying to get herself a good position in her sleep.  
'That's it! Does she want me dead? She's going to kill me for crying out  
loud!' Logan closed his eyes and tried to slow down his respiratory rate  
to calm himself. Wasn't working, in fact, it became worst. He touched his  
forehead with his right hand, it was moist. 'Great, now she's making me  
sweat...'  
  
Max moved a bit, moaned something, and got herself closer to Logan. 'Like  
closer is possible!', he thought. She pushed herself up in a way that she  
now had her face in his neck. 'Oh!, don't mind me Max. Just feel like  
home, in fact, why don't you get over me?!' The irony didn't help him to  
ease the emotion and tension that were growing inside of him. 'Calm  
down...breath...one, two, three. OK, a little better.' He closed his eyes.  
He didn't know why he felt so unsure of himself with Max. Usually, it  
wasn't the case with girls, he even felt very confident. But with Max,  
very different. ' Don't do something stupid you might regret for the rest  
of your life.' He was afraid to loose her.  
  
The emotion slowed down a little after a few minutes, and Logan took his  
left arm, the one that was under his head when Max had move on him, and  
embraced her softly and slowly, to not wake her up. He brushed her hair  
and rested his hand on her skin at the back of her neck. 'So soft...'  
  
He got so tired for a moment, -because of all the events of the night and  
all the energy he spend to save Max- that he felt deeply asleep.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	14. Playing with fire

  
Max woke up.  
She wondered where she was, but as her eyes were adjusting rapidly to the  
dark, she saw Logan's room, and then she saw that she was all curled up  
around him. ' Woooh!, did I miss something here?' The memories of the  
night came back to her, at least parcels of it. She remembered the  
shooting and Logan, telling her a hundred times to stay with him and to  
not close her eyes. She thought about the way he touched her under the  
water, as if she was so fragile that she was going to break in two pieces,  
and how he never stoped, just to keep an outside stimulus, for her not to  
fall in a coma from the seizures and the fever.  
  
Max looked at Logan who was sleeping in silence. 'Good, he doesn't snore!'  
His face was turn towards hers. Max didn't move to not wake him up. She  
then felt his hand on the back of her neck, gently pressing her skin for a  
second and stoped. 'Don't stop!', she thought.  
She began to caress the line of his jaw, by only moving her thumb,  
everything else stayed in place. 'He's so handsome...why does it have to  
be so complicated?'  
  
Max's eyes were just 'glued' on Logan.  
She thought about his lips, how they looked so soft, and how they had felt  
on hers the first time they touched each others... in the car,the day she  
was supposed to escape to Canada with Zach.  
But it wouldn't be the same if she kissed him again, and Max knew it. That  
time, it was more of a goodbye kiss, a thank you kiss for saving her life  
so many times. Now, it was different, she felt it inside of her. She felt  
the emotions growing, the tension reaching a high level in her blood, even  
if she wasn't ready yet to define those feelings, she acknowledged their  
existance. ' Do I dare?...'  
Max caressed Logan's eyebrows and the sensitive skin of his eyes. She then  
moved to the lower lip, and the upper one. 'So soft and ready to be  
kissed.' She would just have to push her head a little further and her  
lips would be on his. 'So tempting...' She licked her lips. '...playing with  
fire...' Her heart was beating very fast. '...he's smelling so good...What am  
I doing?' She took a pause. It is then that Logan moved and turned his  
head to the other side. All she was going to kiss now was a bunch of hair.  
'Even when you're asleep you find a way to disarm me.' She took a breath  
and smiled. ' You wont always get away that easy Logan Cale.'  
  
Max didn't remove herself from Logan, she just stared at the air for a  
while, and fell asleep.  
  
  



	15. The morning after

  
LOGAN'S THE MORNING AFTER  
  
Logan woke-up first. Max was still there, and hadn't move much during the night. He looked at the clock on the table near him, 10:00 AM.  
'What?, Oh My God!!!...Sophie!' He turned towards Max to skaked her a little.  
  
"Max, Max wake-up!", he said gently in her ear."WAKE-UP!!!"  
  
"What?!" 'Is there a bomb in the building?' She thought.  
  
" Max please, it's 10 o'clock and Sophie must be starved to death!" Max then realized that he couldn't move without her moving  
aside.  
  
" Oh!..." She pushed herself away. Logan sat and got in the wheelchair. He opened his bedroom door. 'Weird, he thought, I don't  
remember closing it.'  
  
When he got to Sophie's room, the bed was empty. But before having a stroke, he heard noises in the kitchen and followed them.  
  
"Good morning Logan!" It was Bling lurking at him and smiling strangely.  
  
" Bling, I almost got an heart attack when I saw the empty bed." He paused, and looked at Sophie all happy in her highchair. " What  
are you doing here? It's your day off."  
  
" Well, when I woke up this morning, I thought that you might have had a rough night, and that maybe you, perhaps, would need help this  
morning. So I came..."  
  
" Since when are you here?" Why is he smiling like that?  
  
" Since 6:30." He glanced at Logan and got back to his vegetables. " You see, I came here this morning thinking that you  
wouldn't probably have gotten sleep. But 'OH!' was my surprise to see you DID, and not ALONE as I might add..."  
  
" It's not what you think." , said Logan on the defensive.  
  
" Really. And how do you explain all the clothes, like everywhere, on the floors of the bedroom, the bathroom, the hallway...?" Bling was  
very enjoying this.  
  
" I'm telling you you're wrong, Max got very sick, and I had to do something to calm the fever and the seizures. That is all. I've been a  
perfect gentleman." He doesn't believe me!  
  
" He's telling the truth Bling." Max came behind him, opened the refrigerator door and took the orange juice. She poored a glass to her and  
Logan, and gave it to him.  
  
" Thank you." Max said.  
  
" You're welcome." He knew she was refering to last night.  
  
" What time is it?" Max asked. 'Late...'  
  
" 10:20." Bling said, still smiling.  
  
'What is his problem this morning?', logan thought.  
  
" Sh1t! Normal's going to fire my @ss!" He probably alraidy did.  
  
" Not so fast Lady." Bling said, facing her." When I saw the two of you this morning I called in for you, and told him you weren't  
working today."  
  
"Wow!, and what did he say?"  
  
" Nothing. I told him you couldn't go and that the reason was personnal. He then said:'And what is the personnal reason?', and I said to  
him: 'Well, if you insist, she's not feeling too hot because of her periods and...' , he cut me right there 'OK!OK! Stop it right there. Fine,  
she can have her day off. This time.' and he hung up." He seemed proud of himself.  
  
" Impressive." So, Normal doesn't like that topic...good to know! "Bling, you are my Normal savior!" And she kissed him on  
the cheek.  
  
' He's lucky, I didn't even get that!' Logan thought.  
  
"My pleasure. Logan, since you don't need me that much, I'll fly away." He took his stuff and got out. 'He's in a hurry.' she thought.  
  
Logan turned towards Max who was looking everywhere for her clothes.  
  
"Where's my coat?"  
  
"In the bedroom I think." She's already leaving...  
  
He heard her say 'YES!', she got out of the room and got back to him with the vial of insulin and the cassette.  
  
" Here's what I found yesterday at the lab factory." After giving it to Logan, she took the milk from the refrigerator and looked at  
the boxes of cereals. She took the Cheerios one. Logan smiled to himself.  
  
" Did you hear it?" He went to his answering machine and put the cassette in it and listened." Okay, so this O'Neil guy is going to  
the Falcone Charity event tonight. I know the people who organize this."  
  
" Why am I not surprised?" He knows everyone, very reliable this guy!  
  
" We're going." said he, pouring the milk in his Cheerios. She rised her eyes and stared at him.  
  
" What?" Where?  
  
" We- are- going." Can't miss an opportunity like that. 'I should tell that to myself more often...'  
  
" Where? When? ...Now?" Can't I eat in peace?  
  
" Tonight! At the Falcone Charity event. We'll go and find out more on this O'Neil guy, and at the same time, I'll buy something nice and give  
the money away for those who needs it."  
  
" It's all good." All the time...  
  
" All good." What is that all about?!  
  
" And what exactly do you want me to do, may I ask?"  
  
" Well, you'll try to make that guy talk and reveal the conspiracy between him and the Nevelin company." He took a bite of cereals.  
  
" And how will I do that?" 'Spill it out!'  
  
" By using your charms...of course." He said smiling. Who could resist you Max?  
  
" What a plan!...And what if the guy is gay?" Yeah! That could happen. Why do I always have to play the sex toy? Because I'm good with it  
and I like it...but...  
  
" Max! Don't be silly." He laughed at her.  
  
" What? It's a large life!" She said laughing too.  
  
" Okay then, I promess that IF the guy is gay I'll use my charms." He made her an irresistible smile.  
  
" You have charms? Excuse me, I never recalled..." Ha!ha!ha!...she thought. He made her some kind of grimace.  
  
" So, you'll do it if he's gay?" I hope he'll be...I'd die to see that!  
  
" Cross my heart." And hope to die...  
  
" Can't wait!"  
  
Logan regained his seriousness.  
" Will you be fine for tonight? I mean..."  
  
" Sure. I'm feeling fine! Never slept better." She looked down from the intensity of his eyes. " What about the insulin?" She  
added." Can you test it?"  
  
" Yes. We have to make sure it's not legal to sell that to people. But I'll have to go see a friend for that..."  
  
" No problem. Go Logan, I'll take care of Sophie."  
  
" Thank you. But make sure she stays alive." He said to Max, smiling.  
  
" Very funny. Ha,ha,ha."  
  
  
  
  



	16. Hi! I'm Bella, you?

  
Logan went to his bedroom and changed. At the same time, Max went to the bathroom to put her clothes on. She got back to the kitchen and took  
Sophie in her arms.  
  
" Hey Boo! How are you this morning?" She finished giving her what Bling had made for her, and gave her her milk. 'I wonder what it  
tastes like.' She took the bottle from Sophie and took a sip. She gave it back to her, and then she saw Logan staring at her in disbelief.  
  
" What was that!?" He sounded disgusted.  
  
" I was curious!" Said Max like nothing happened." Did you try it?"  
  
" Please, it's my cousin's milk we are talking about!" Ssheesh!  
  
" Well, it's not bad, even a little sugary."  
  
" If you say so, I'll take your words for it. Bye Max!" He closed the door after taking the tape.  
  
Max turned to Sophie.  
" Well, Boo, we are the two of us for all the afternoon!" The phone rang. Max let the answering machine take it. ' Logan, it's Isabella.  
I wanted news of my girl and...' Max took the phone.  
  
" Hey."  
  
" Hello?" Said Isabella.  
  
" I'm Logan's friend, you just missed him. I'm baby-sitting."  
  
" Oh! Hi!...I'm Isabella, and you are?..." Maybe it's time I'll find out who that girl is!  
  
" Oh!, excuse me, I'm Max." She seems nice.  
  
" And how's my girl? Is she much trouble?" I hope not.  
  
" Not at all. She's fine, she's an angel."  
  
" Do you know if she sleeps all night? Her teeth are growing you know..." Great opening Bella!  
  
" I guess yes, she didn't woke me up last night." Oh, oh...she got me.  
  
" Great!" I knew it! Logan Cale, you'll have some 'splaining to do! "So, she's likable?" She laughed.  
  
" Oh, yeah, I'm totally in love!"  
  
" With whom?" Got ya again!  
  
" With...Sophie." She's smart.  
  
There was a pause for a moment.  
" So, tell Logan I'll be there Sunday at 7:00 or so." He didn't even tell me her name! She seems nice. I'll kill him!  
  
"I will."  
  
" It was nice talking to you. "  
  
"Same here."  
  
"Can I ask you something?" Now he'd be the one who'd kill me if he knew.  
  
"Sure..." Depends of the question.  
  
"Is he alraight? I mean..."  
  
"He's working on it. Better then at first, but yeah, he's okay."  
  
"You knew him before his accident?"  
  
" Yes." She seems to care a lot for him.  
  
" I'm pissed off that he never mentioned you to me."  
  
" Well, he's a secret kind of guy, you know." And I have a prize on my head!  
  
" Yeah, I know. But under that shield is the sweetest man."  
  
" I know."  
  
" Well, thank you...and don't tell him I asked please, he'll kill me."  
  
" Asked what?!" Max said. Bella laughed and hung up.  
  
Sophie began to cry. Very loud. Too loud for Max's fine ears.  
" What's wrong Boo!?" Max changed her diaper.' I'm so not good at this!' It didn't work. " Stop crying. God, it's a very high pitch  
voice!" She took her and rocked her to calm her down. Didn't work. " Don't make me sing...please!" She began to sing 'Twinkle,  
twinkle little star..." Didn't work either. She put her face to face with hers and Sophie stoped crying. " Good!" And then she puked  
on Max. "Great." She took a towel to wipe-up Sophie's face. "I guess you didn't like Bling's food." She put her in her  
playground park and went to the laundry room, took off her pants and shirt, and put it in the washing machine. There was a sweater on the back  
door, she put it on. " Logan's." She could smell him. " That will do for the moment, I'm not going outside anyway."  
  
She came back to the living room where Sophie was still crying. "Your teet Boo?" She tried everything in her power, but nothing worked. She  
sat on the cauch, desparate. " Kikking 10 guys butts aren't making me tired like that!" She saw Logan's CD's and began looking at his  
collection.'Maybe music will calm her.' Schubert, Chopin, Beethoven, Liszt, Sibelius. All classic music. She remembered how she had like  
Sibelius and took to put it in the CD player. She went to the laundry room and put her clothes in the dryer. " It  
would be so useful to have on of these at home." She returned and sat on the sofa. " Please kid, my ears can't take it anymore!" I'll became deaf.  
  
When she opened her eyes Logan was in front of her, his arms crossed, staring.  
"I see you made yourself at ease!" He smiled at Max.  
  
"I wasn't sleeping, just closed my eyes for a moment." I suppose they were close too long.  
  
"I was talking about about what you're wearing." He gazed at her.  
  
"She puked on me!" She told him with a yellow smile.  
  
"She did!" He burst into laughs." Is she alright?"  
  
"Sure. She felt asleep listening to Sebilius. And what would you have want me to do? Walk around almost naked?...Don't answer that one." By the  
look he was giving her, she got her answer.  
  
Max stood up and almost ran to the laundry room to put her pants on. They were still a little wet. 'Who cares, I have to wear something.'  
  
"So what did you find out?" Changing the subject is good.  
  
" That the concentration of this insulin is half of what it is supposed to be. And that there is cocain in it. It hooked people on it,  
and they wont want to buy from another company. It's making me sick."  
  
" No wonder why this poor girl looked bad." Not enough insulin, too much cocain. Good mix!!...  
  
" By the way, I called Kendra for her to pick up a dress for you for tonight. It's a formal thing. She told me she had just the perfect one for  
you."  
  
" Kendra? You asked Kendra." Oh no...  
  
" Why?" Was that a bad choice?  
  
" You'll be lucky if there is more than two squares of material on this dress, and if I can wear it." He asked Kendra...  
  
" No, no. She told me it was a dress she wore on her aunt's wedding a few years ago, and that it doesn't fit her anymore, but would perfectly  
fit you." That's what she told me anyway.  
  
" Never heard of it. Oh, before I forget, Isabella called and she said she'll be here sunday at 7:00 or so."  
  
" Fine." I wonder what they talked about.  
  
" I'll go take a shower." He went to the bathroom.  
  
The doorbell rang. Max opened the door, it was a delivery boy.  
  
" I have a package for Logan Cale."  
  
" You can give it to me, thanks." She closed the door. 'Smart, he didn't took Jam Pony Express.' She took a peek at the dress and it seemed  
okay. There were shoes and some make-up kit. ' Well, she didn't forget anything!'  
  
Logan got out of the shower and went to his room. "Be my guest if you want to shower!" He yelled through the door.  
  
" I think I will since I don't want to smell Chanel number Vomit!"  
  
  
  
  
  



	17. Temptations

  
  
Max got out of the shower 15 minutes later in a towel and asked Logan if he had a hairdrier.  
  
" Yes, in the left drawer." Why does she have to parade that way in front of me like I'm wood or something!  
  
She took the bag and returned to the bathroom. After a few minutes, he heard her curse.  
" Is there a problem?" With the dress...?  
  
Max got out of the shower, she was embarrased. The dress was very beautiful, and classic. It was a long dark blue dress, very well fit, and  
opened to the side of her left leg. Max seemed to be holding up the dress under her arms, and she had some kind of a ribbon in her hand.  
" You look beautiful." And sexy...  
  
" I have a problem." She took a chair and put it in front of Logan, facing him. She sat on it backwards. Her back was completely naked.  
"You have to put the ribbon in each holes and lace it like a pair of boots. You know, intertwin." she paused." There is 14 holes,  
I've count them." I'll kill Kendra for this!  
  
" Oh!" Logan said, now feeling embarrassed himself. He locked is wheelchair and got nearer to Max, for him not to stretch his back too  
much. He took her hair and put it behind her right shoulder, without leaving her skin while doing it. 'So soft...' He took the ribbon (who was  
like 4 mm large) that Max was giving him, and began to put it in the first hole, just next to her shoulder blade. Logan didn't have the choice but to  
touch her skin to make the dress a perfect fit, and that was making him crazy.  
  
He took a deep breath and found out that Max had just took one at the same time. 'Why does a female's back has to be so sensual?', he thought. He  
continued to tie her dress, his fingers slightly moving on her skin. 'Oh!, so soft...', the feeling of the night before came back in a flash. He  
tried to keep his breath still and to stay cool, but as the blood pressure rose up inside of him, he found himself not breathing at all.  
  
Nobody talked.  
  
Max was fixing the air, trying not to shiver from his touch. 'Are you touching me on purpose?', she thought. She closed her eyes as she felt the  
warm touch of his fingers on her flesh. As he was almost done, he stoped his hands on the sensitive spot of her lower back. Max felt Logan's breath  
on the back of her neck. Her heart stoped beating for a second, and she suddenly felt very flushed.  
  
Nobody moved.  
  
Max reopened her eyes, his fingers were still in place. She thought they were moving a little, but oh so not much, on her back. She could hear her  
breath having the same beat as his. Max felt the warm of her blood running through her. Very fuzzy.  
She turned around and looked at Logan. He was looking down, his cheeks very pink, his lips slightly open, and his breath getting faster and  
faster.  
  
" Logan..." Said Max in a voice that made him look up at her. Their eyes met, and Max hold her breath when she saw the look in his eyes.  
She had never been look that way before, she felt naked in front of him- and that almost made her scared- just by the way his eyes were on hers.  
But what Max didn't know is that she was looking at Logan just the same. Their faces were an inch apart.  
  
" I didn't thank you properly this morning...", she whispered to him, unable to keep her eyes from his lips. She heard him breath again,  
deeply, slowly. She plunged her eyes into his and returned to his lips. The fire was burning up inside of them, and their faces were so close to  
each other that only paper could be placed between them. No one dared to move, like the Earth could explode if so. Max deeply stared at his eyes  
and Logan licked his lips.  
  
"Put your hands on me." Max whispered to him with desire. There definitely was electricity in the air.   
Logan began to caress Max's arm with his hand, softly moving up to her shoulder and then to the sensitive  
skin behind her ear. He pushed her towards him just enough for their lips to meet each others, lightly, softly. But it was to much to bare, Max took  
off his glasses and the emotions took control of their bodies.  
  
Logan pressed more his lips on Max's, and she opened her mouth to him. When their tongue touched, it was like they've been stroke by a lightning.  
Logan carressed the line of her spine, undoing everything he had just tied. Max thought she was going to die, she couldn't believe the way she  
was feeling right now. Never in her life had she been touched like that, and never did she respond with so much emotion. She took her hands off his  
neck to reach his back, under his smoking. She pulled his blouse out of his pants to slide her hands on his back, touching his skin like she would  
tear it apart.  
  
" Max..." said Logan to her, catching his breath. She looked at him, unable to think of anything.  
There was so much longing in his eyes.  
  
" Logan...?" she replied. He passionately pressed his lips on hers again. Every part of their skin that they could get on was touched.  
Max's dress was completely untie now and she had a very hard time trying to stay dressed. Max felt she was loosing control of herself and pushed  
Logan away from her. She was trembling from everywhere inside of her body. " Max..." Logan himself had troubles taking control. She looked  
very lost, and the way she was holding to her dress made Logan laugh. She wasn't looking at him. He took her face in his hands and made her look at  
him. There was fire in her eyes.  
  
" Talk to me.", he said to her, trying hard to stay away from her lips and skin.  
  
" Logan, I gave you two choices now." She was regaining her selfcontrol.  
  
" I'm listening." he said smiling.  
  
" First one: you stop touching me like that and we go to that Falcone Charity thing, or second choice..."  
  
" Speak no more Max!" He took a very long deep inspiration. Though one! "You play very hard..." He took a pause again.  
"We have to go Max, you know we have to, people are getting killed." He smiled at her with longing. "But thanks for the  
offer...I'll take a rain chech on this."Logan said half smiling.  
  
" You better look the expire date!" Max said, returning his smile.  
  
" Ok, turn around that I finally tie down this dress." She obeyed. He was making the knock when she felt his kiss on the side of  
her neck, just under her ear.  
  
"I'm done." He wispered, giving her another one, lower, and another one.  
  
"You, cheater!" She said, accusing him.  
  
"Couldn't resist." He said in a teasing voice.  
  
" Oh, yeah? " She stood up and walked away, moving herself the way she knew would make him stare at her.  
  
" Now, you're the one cheating Max!"  
She smiled with victory.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	18. Bonnie & Clyde

  
THE Falcone Charity Event, 18:00  
  
Max and Logan got into the immense room full of half-cut walls and tables,  
with paintings, statues, murals, everything that could be found in such a  
place. Max looked everywhere, there was a LOT of people.  
  
" Wow!", said Max to Logan," It's like Alibaba's  
cavern!" They looked around.  
  
" Yes it is." He smiled at her. "But first, we have to find  
that O'Neil guy." We don't even know what he looks like.  
  
" That wont be a problem. Don't forget I have 'super powers'!"  
Max went into the crowd, followed by Logan, and began her search. She then  
stoped walking and put her hand on Logan's shoulder.  
  
"Wait." She said abruptly. She sounded focused on something.  
  
" What is it?" Logan asked.  
  
" Shhush!" Said Max, putting her finger on his mouth.  
  
" Don't shush me!" He replied, insulted. Max turned her head  
towards him and almost started laughing at the face he was doing.  
  
" I'm hearing him talking...that's why I shushed you!" I  
forgot...he doesn't like to be shushed! She turned her head. "Follow  
me." Max turned left and walked only a few feet away from where they  
were. "We got our man." She made a sign with her head at the  
direction of the man. "It's the guy there, wearing the yellow  
tie."  
  
" Good." Logan said satisfied. "Now you know what to  
do." Max stared at him in disbelief.  
  
" WHAT?! With that tie he's wearing, my guess is that you'll be  
working tonight, not me!" She made him a forced smile.  
  
" I'm not doing it Max..." Oh!, she enjoing this too much!  
  
" Don't forget you crossed your heart on this, YOU gave ME your  
WORD!" Can't go back on that.  
  
" But it doesn't mean that because the man's wearing a yellow tie -  
with big flowers on it - pink - that he's guay?..." Please kill me  
now...  
  
" You are doing it my man!" Can't wait to see that!  
  
Logan raised an eyebrow.  
" Oh!, I'm your man now?" He tried not to smile, bitting his  
tongue.  
  
" Ha!ha!ha!...It wont work on me to change the subject, I have a very  
good, without limit, short memory."  
  
" I'd rather be in a dungeon..." Oh! God. Max opened her big  
brown eyes.  
  
"Bip!Bip!Bip!" Said she almost laughing!  
  
A lady came near them.  
" Mr. Logan Cale! What a big surprise!" She was about 65 years  
old, tall, and very graceful.  
  
" Mrs. Falcone." she kissed him on the cheek. " I present  
you Max Guevara, a friend. Max, this is Diana Falcone, the hostess of the  
evening, and a dear friend of the family." She took Max's hand to  
shake it.  
  
" Nice to meet you Miss.Guevara." She was charming.  
  
" Same here."  
  
" Enjoy the show. Logan, I'm sure you'll find something you'll  
like." She walked away to meet other people.  
  
" Nice woman. " She faced Logan. " Showtime!"  
  
" Fine. I guess resistance is futile." He stoped rolling his  
chair. "You ARE coming with me!" She made a NO sign with her  
head.  
  
" You'll do just fine!" Ha!ha!Ha!...  
  
" You better wish me luck..." I'll need it!  
  
" There is no such thing as luck." Max began to say.  
  
" I know, I know. There are good plans and then success if the plans  
were correctly followed. Right?" She noded.  
  
" Exactly. So, you DID learn a lesson from Manticore, and coming from  
Zach I suppose? Impressive." Logan took a good inspiration.  
  
" This guy will see right through me." Kill me now, please, snap  
my neck...  
  
" He wont, just look at him the way you look at me."  
  
" And HOW do I look at you may I ask?" He's playing with  
me...he's back on track!   
  
" Well, Max thought for a minute, your eyes are very intense and  
sparkling...just like they are right now." She smiled at him.  
"Just keep that face in mind."  
  
" I'll try." Max walked in front of Logan. 'Yeah! Like I'm gonna  
let him do this alone! It took him a year to charm me openly...so a man ?!  
Please...'  
  
" Excuse me Sir?" Max said to O'Neil. "Aren't you the man I  
saw last month or so at a conference on diabetics?" He stared at her,  
trying to remember her.  
  
" It could have been me, since I work for Nevelin, but I sure would  
remember such a beautiful face!" He smiled at her and Max smiled  
back, facing Logan, who looked like he had just lost 20 pounds of relief.  
'Oh! You're lucky Logan Cale!'  
  
" My name is Brian. And you are?" He asked looking at both of  
them.  
  
" I'm Bonnie, and this is Clyde." She paused a moment, wishing  
she hadn't said those names. She saw Logan's face slowly turning towards  
hers, not believing what he had just heard. She looked at him thinking  
'Oh! Shut up!'  
  
" Well, nice to meet you." He shaked their hands. "So, why  
were you at the conference last month?" Asking it, his cellphone  
rang. "Excuse me." He answered it: " O'Neil here!" He  
smiled nervously and turned his back on them, putting his hand on the  
other ear.  
  
"What were you thinking?", wispered Logan to Max." Bonnie  
and ClYde?"  
"Oh! Shut up! That's the first names that poped into my head. I know  
them, you know them, it doesn't mean he knows them...it was almost a  
century ago!" I know it was stupid of me!  
  
" Not now!" They heard O'Neil say. "I can't." After a  
few minutes he said "Fine. 10 minutes." And hung up and faced  
them. " My wife..." He tried to posture himself straight and  
asked:" So, there are fine art pieces here, what are you looking  
for?"  
  
"Maybe the 'statuette' over there." Answered Logan.  
  
" And you Bonnie?" Max shrugs one's shoulders.  
  
" Me?", she said innocently, "I don't know a single thing about  
Art!" 'Yeah right, thought Logan, you could put a price on every item  
here!' "Usually he's the one choosing for me... Anything he likes, I  
like!" She said smiling to the guy. Logan tried not to burst into  
laughs.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	19. Got'ya Big Boy!

  
Well M'mam, I'm not very good with it either. I'm only here to buy  
something for my boss because he couldn't be here, and that's it."  
O'Neil looked everywhere, he was slightly agitated. "If you'd excuse  
me..." And he went away.  
  
" He sure is in a hurry." Logan said to Max, wondering.  
  
" I know. I heard the other person's voice on the cellphone earlier.  
It was this 'Harvey' guy, but this time he said Harvey James. They have a  
date outside the place in one minute now." Max looked at Logan.  
"It could be good to record this, you'd have pictures for Eyes  
Only." Logan put his hand on his jacket right pocket and got out a  
tiny camera.  
  
" Well, whenever I go somewhere that I think could be interresting, I  
bring my little 'special agent' friend here." He handed it to Max.  
  
" I'm wondering sometimes where you find all this." She studied  
it. " Does it work great without the flash?"  
  
" Max. I wouldn't have gave it to you if it didn't."  
  
" Right." She turned around to look at the clock. " OK, go  
buy something and I'll be back. My guess is that we wont have to stay here  
all evening." She made him a smile.  
  
" Why? Are you in a hurry to go back?", he asked innocently.  
  
"Maybe..." She turned her back on him and walked to the front  
door.  
She hide herself from them. O'Neil was outside with Harvey, and a third  
person. Max recognised her, it was the girl from the street. She was  
agitated, and there seemed to be animosity in the air. She listened to  
them talking. The girl wanted more, but Harvey didn't want to give it to  
her without being paid by O'Neil. Harvey had the vial in his hand and the  
girl almost jumped on him to take it. 'OK.OK' said Brian, 'I don't want to  
make a scene here. There, take this and I'll give you the rest later.' He  
got couples of hundreds out of his wallet, handed it to Harvey, who then  
gave the vial to the girl.  
  
" Excellent!" Max thought. She tooks the pictures and got back  
inside the room.  
  
" So? " Logan asked her when she came near him.  
  
"Everything we need, plus the names we have, Eyes Only's conquest is  
done for tonight!" Please let it be done...  
  
" Great. Now we better go, before anyone can draw us on paper!"  
  
" Na...nobody will remember us." Well, not exactly, but...  
  
They got into the car.  
"You got very lucky the guy wasn't gay." Max said, teasing him.  
  
"Yes!", he said laughing, "What was with the tie  
anyway?"  
  
" Bad taste if you ask me!"  
  
" Very bad taste..."  
  
" So, tell me what you bought!" 'I wonder how much he really paid for it.'  
  
Logan raised an eyebrow.  
"Why don't you tell me?" Go ahead, humor me...  
  
" Okay, let me guess..." Max acted like she was thinking for a minute. "You  
didn't took the silver statuette, not your style at all. My guess is that  
you bought the African mural." She faced him, waiting for the answer.  
He smiled.  
  
" You're good...How did you know?" Logan asked out of curiosity.  
  
" Even if it wasn't the most expensive one, as I first thought you  
would take -you know 'pay the big price for charity', it was the most  
humanist, and I knew you'd love it. Plus, your eyes were stuck on it when  
I came back from outside!" She laughed.  
  
" Ah!...and here I thought you knew me better than anyone..."  
  
" I do."  
  
Logan's and Max's eyes met and there was silence. They both looked  
straight ahead, not knowing what would be the next step.  
  
****************************************  
NO SILENT READERS PLEASE!!  
TALK TO ME!  
  
  
  
  



	20. Now what?

  
They got into Logan's appartment at nine o'clock. Bling was watching t.v. on the couch, and Sophie was in her playground park. He looked up at Max.  
  
"So?, he asked, Did you got the guy?" 'Sure they did, they're back.'  
  
" Almost." Max sat down next to Bling. "The guy's busted, but we have to develop some pictures before we go on air." Logan  
looked at Max in surprise.  
  
" I beg you pardon?" He said teasing her. "Don't forget that I'M the one going on air!"  
  
"Oh! That's true Your Majesty, I forgot." Max said, playing along. "I do all the work, but you get all the credits for it...Life  
is so unfair!" She winked at Bling.  
  
" WHAT?!" Logan cried to her. "Oh!oh!oh!oh!..., he said laughing ironically, You're in trouble missy!" He took the tomato  
that was on the counter and threw it at Max. She was fast enough to catch it in time, laughing.  
  
" I wont throw it back at you because I don't want you to have a few ribs broken!" She said very seriously.  
  
" Oh, you're so full of it!" He said to her before going to the bathroom to develop the pictures.  
  
'Well, thought Bling, I feel like the third wheel, so I better go...' He sat up.  
"Time for me to go now, Bye Max!"  
  
" Bye Bling!" She turned towards Sophie." Say Bye to Bling Sweety!" Sophie made the 'ByeBye' sign with her hand. "Good  
girl!" 'She's so cute!'  
  
"Bye Love!" Said Bling to Sophie. And he left, happy to let them alone.  
  
Max looked at the clock, it was now 30 minutes past 9. 'How long has he been in there?' Sophie began to cry and Max took her on her lap.  
  
"Mommy!", cried Sophie.  
  
" You miss your mama don't you? Well, she'll be back tomorrow, aren't you happy Boo?" Sophie didn't care less about that, she wanted Bella  
right now! "Well, said Max trying to reason her, I'm the mom substitute now, so take it or leave it!" There was big tears coming  
from Sophie's eyes. Max became more patient. "I know. I know. Even if I never had a mom, I know you miss her...Come here." She put her head  
on her shoulder, and Sophie calmed down a few minutes later. Max closed her eyes, waiting for Logan to come out of his dark room. She often did  
that to regain some energy, since she usually don't sleep all through the night.  
  
Logan got out of the room an hour later, and found Sophie sleeping in Max's arms. 'Now, that's a great picture!' , he said to himself. Max  
opened her eyes.  
  
" Are we still in 2020?" She asked him, smiling. Logan smiled back at her.  
  
"I'm sorry it took so long, I had some problem, but now it's all good." He rolled his chair near Max. "They have to dry and then  
I'll be able to record my Eyes Only video." Max stared at him, feeling a sudden dryness in her throat. She swallowed...hard.  
  
" I'll put her in her bed." She said to Logan, not even looking at him.  
  
" Okay." Now what?...I can't think straight!  
  
Max got back of Sophie's room and stoped in front of Logan. She stared at him, not knowing what to do, feeling very nervous, waiting for him to say  
something. But nothing came out of his lips.  
  
" I...I better go now..." She managed to say out loud, looking down.  
  
" Yeah, go..." He said back with a straight face.  
  
They looked at each other very oddly. 'Should we kiss or something?'  
  
"Bye Logan." Max walked away and opened the front door before he could say anything, and got out.  
Logan staired at the door.  
  
MAX'S AND KENDRA'S PLACE  
  
Max opened the door and found Kendra watching a movie.  
  
" Hey." Sha said to Kendra.  
  
She turned her head away from the screen and smiled when she saw her dress on Max.  
  
"I knew it would fit you well!" She stood up and walked around Max, smiling. "So..., she asked devilishly, Did Logan liked the  
dress?" She tried not to appear too eager to find that out.  
  
" He said it was OK." She told Kendra, acting like she didn't care. "Worst part is that I was alone to put that dress on, and I had  
to knock on the neighbour's door to have some help. I was lucky she was there!" Got ya! Kendra...you little...  
  
Kendra looked disappointed.  
" You must be kidding me...I don't believe a word you say Max! Tell me what happened!" She couldn't hold it any longer!  
  
" I knew it Kendra! You little devil!...I knew you had done this on purpose...I should kill you for that!" Max was angry, but she was  
smiling and blushing at the same time.  
  
" OOoooohhhh!...so it DID work...Tell me details..!" She wanted to know so bad! Max grinned. "Look, I know you are pissed at me now,  
but I HAD to do something! Or else you'd be both 70 and old and taking each other's clothes off with eyes instead of hands...or teeth!"  
Kendra laughed at herself.  
  
" 70..., repeated Max, We are not THAT bad?!" Max said, insulted by what Kendra had just said.  
  
" WHAT? And what about Christmas?"  
  
" What, Christmas?"Max looked like she didn't know what she was talking about.  
  
"Exactly my point." Kendra said. " I put a mistletoe just by the door, so that when you open it, it's in front of you...like IN YOUR  
FACE...And when Logan came here, you both looked at it without moving an inch, and you took it off!"  
  
" I DID NOT!" Said Max defensively.  
  
" Yes, you DID!" She stared at Max, and took a deep breath."Anyway, what about tonight?" Max sat down on the couch  
with her and she related the events of the night, but only the dress part of course.  
  
" Wow, pretty much intense...that is so cute!" Kendra was very proud of her plan.  
  
" Yeah..." Max fell into her thoughts. Kendra knew that something was wrong when she saw Max's face.  
  
" Tell me what's bothering you." She gently stroked her hair.  
  
" Nothing." Max bits her lip.  
  
" Max, I know you. Remember? And I've never seen you like this over a man. EVER. So don't do that trick on me okay?" Talk to me...  
  
" I don't know Kendra." There was great sadness in her eyes. " On the spot in felt so right...but afterwards...I...hum...it's  
just..." She stoped talking.  
  
" Give you two some time to absorb all this Max. What do you have to loose here, nobody's life is at risk! If you don't try it, you may regret  
it later." Max looked at Kendra. 'I know you only want to help, but there is so much you don't know about my life...'  
  
There was a crash sound in the t.v. and Eyes Only appeared on the screen, telling everything about Nevelin, Brian O'Neil and Harvey James. Max went  
into her thoughts again.  
  
" I wonder who's that guy is?, said Kendra, Maybe he's the Hunchback of Notre-Dame, waiting for his beautiful Esmeralda...or maybe an old  
President, knowing all about the conspiracies and plots of the world...or a spy working for the state...or..." She would have gone on with  
this, but Max knew it, so she just told her to 'Shut up!' Kendra was shoked by what Max told her, but she kept her mouth shut.  
After a few minutes she talked to Max.  
  
"Look, I know you're feeling like crap right now, but I'm a person, and i don't think I deserved to be talked like that."  
  
"I'm sorry Kendra..." I am.  
  
"I know you are." She paused a moment. "Will you be alright?"  
  
"I'm fine, don't worry about me." 'I feel like crap...why am I? Everything  
is fine? Yeah, right!'  
  
"What will you do Honey?" About Logan.  
  
"I don't know...I'll have to sleep on it." Max stood up and went to her bedroom.  
  
*******************************************  
Hello to you viewers, if you're al this chapter, it's probably because you like me story,  
and I wanted to say 'thank you'.  
  
Juliette  
  
  
  



	21. What ifs?

  
  
MAX'S PLACE, SUNDAY MORNING  
  
She was eating her breakfast when her pager biped. Max looked at the code number, it was Logan. Since the Reds came after her, they decided to not  
phone each other with the real numbers, anyway, they knew it by heart, so it was useless. Max took a deep breath, and continued eating her cereals.  
She glanced around, the place was empty since Kendra was at work. 'I shouldn't have talked to her that way.', she thought. 'I don't like it when  
people do it to me, so...'  
  
She looked at her pager again. 'He called me, and I'm not calling him back. What's wrong with me? He wouldn't have called, I would have been  
pissed off!' She moved her head from left to right, in despair of her behaviors.  
  
" STOP BOTHERING!" She yelled at her pager. "I'm trouble, don't you know that by now?!" The clock was telling 9:00, Sunday  
morning. It was Max's day off today. 'Great! I wont hear Normal telling me for the X time that he will fire my a$$!' I can't believe this guy, after  
all we did for him!  
  
Max fell deep into her thoughts. She began to think about yesterday, and then she went to a week ago, and then a month, and she stoped at a year  
ago or so, when she'd met Logan for the first time. 'My life has changed so much since he came into it! Everything is so different...it's like I'm  
a different person. I AM.' She told herself.  
She stood up and went to the counter to make herself coffee. She waited for the water to boil, and walked to the couch. 'It's not Logan's good  
coffee, but it will do for now.' Real coffee is so hard to find these days.  
She waited before taking a sip. 'Too hot.'  
  
'It's true that I've changed. I would never had care for someone else than me before. Sure I cared for Original Cindy and Kendra, but I never would  
have put them before me. It was all about me, me, me! But hey, did I not sort of raise myself? I had to survive. I was only 9 for crying out  
loud!' She smiled. 'The first time I saw him, I thought he was so full of it, so arrogant!...But then I found out he was helping the downtroddens,  
and later, that he just has the biggest heart. And he made me see mine, he made me realize I had a soul, a heart, and a good one.' Max drank her  
coffee and realized there was no more in her cup. She went and poored some more, since she hadn't slept at all last night.  
  
'Everything's changed so bad. I'm having more and more problems with my body, there's plenty I ignore about it. If Logan hadn't been there for  
me, I know I wouldn't be alive today. Sure I saved his life too, but he's the only one knowing about my condition, and the only one who could do  
something about it. Maybe Lydecker would have found me sooner, and I would be at Manticore, working for him again. Or I would be dead from the  
seizures, and some poor guy would have found me, thinking I was probably a junky who put herself the final dose in her blood. I wonder wich one is  
worst than the other...' She grabed her pager in her hand.  
  
Yesterday, when her lips touched Logan's, she lost it. Her blood was running so fast in her body that she thought she was going to faint. She's  
laughing at herself from it now, but she totally lost it! It was just to addictive. His lips were so soft, and to remember it made Max touch her  
lips with her fingers. She smiled. 'Oh yeah, it did happen, and you just can't go on like nothing did!' For 12 big minutes, his skin never left  
hers. And she had been ready to do anything at that moment, passionately, impulsively, without thinking of the consequences. Just to hear his breath  
accelerate, his lips pushing harder on hers, and his hands caressing her skin, she had lost it. 'I never allowed myself to be involved emotionnaly  
before.' It has been pure desire taking over your body, your soul, and not allowing you to be in charge of it anymore.  
  
But what if? What would be next?  
  
'It had felt so nice...  
It had felt so good...  
And after, it had felt so strange.'  
  
And now, everything inside of her was twisted, it was like she couldn't breath anymore, like she couldn't speak.  
  
"Will everything change on me again?" Max said to her out loud. 'I never had anyone in my life, at Manticore we had each other, Zach,  
Jondi, Tinga, and Eva...until Lydecker killed her in front of my eyes. But we didn't had the choice, we only had ourselves to lean on. Even if we  
considered each other as brothers ans sisters, it wasn't the same...   
Then we escaped, I lost Jondi and I was alone. It's only later that I met Original Cindy and then, Kendra. We liked each other from the start.  
But even if they were a big part of my life, they didn't know me. The real me. I was still hiding.  
  
'And then, I stumbled and fell...  
I fell into Logan's life, and he just jumped right into mine. I discovered he was Eyes Only, and he knew all about us X5. No one asked for an  
invitation card into each other's life. It just happened...and it was so easy!  
  
I never thought, really thought, about this before, but now it's making so much sense.  
  
All my life I looked for the others, all my life I've been searching, and what did I found out when I finally met Zack? It wasn't what I was looking  
for. Sure I love him, but I understand now that there are levels of love. You can love a lot of people, but not all the same way.  
Me, the Maximum Girl as they used to call me back at Manticore, and where my name is coming from, me Max, who's supposed to be so tough, fearless,  
and independant. I wanted to connect with someone, I wanted to worth something to someone, and as it turned out, I found that person. But HUGE  
are the consequences of all this. HUGE!  
  
There is not one bit thing that I hate about that man. Even when he pisses me off, I forgive him...I do it to him too, you know. He's the only one I  
can be my true self with, I trust him completely, I'd put my life into his hands anytime. I've done it, and I'd do it again, and again. Our  
friendship came from acceptance of one another, and now I couldn't live with myself if something happened to him. And that's a problem. It's a  
Goliath's size problem.  
  
So what will become of us? What should I do?  
What if it doesn't work, US, togheter? What if all turns weird? What will happen of our lives? What if our feelings get in the way of our jugement,  
and somebody gets hurt? I couldn't live with that. What if I get caught by Lydecker? What if HE gets cought by Lydecker because of me? What if...?'  
  
Max took a sip of her coffee without realizing it was cold as ice. She did not notice either the tear that was falling down her cheek.  
  
'Why couldn't I just have been born an ordinary girl?'  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	22. I'm most human after all!

  
  
Max decided not to call Logan.  
She went to his Penthouse instead. She wanted to see him, so she wasn't about to let IT change anything of their lives. 'The goal is to not have  
too much changes, right? Change is bad, very bad.' She was trying to convice herself...Too much maybe. 'So I go in, and talk to him as any other  
day, and if he wants to say something about IT, I just tell him IT was a mistake! Right...a mistake.' She stoped in front of the front door, her  
arm up to her head, ready to knock, but not doing so. 'You're a soldier Max, feelings aren't suppose to be in your genetic code.' She hold her  
breath, ready to win the battle. She knocked and opened the door. Logan was in the living room, he raised his head and looked up at Max. She could  
see the surprise in his face, because she's usually never there at this hour of the morning. He smiled at her. Her heart just twist and she felt  
herself melting. 'I can't do this...I'm not strong enough! Not strong? Isn't that crap or what?!...I guess I'm human after all!'  
  
" Hey." He said to her, his eyes stuck on her.  
  
"Hello." She replied. 'Stop staring at me like that! Am I blushing?'  
  
Logan didn't really know what to do, again. Yesterday he'd make the mistake of letting her go...He studied Max's face and came to the conclusion  
that she didn't close an eye all night. 'Neither did I.'  
  
"Where's my girl?" Max asked, trying to break the ice. She looked around and did not see Sophie.  
  
"She's taking a bath with Bling." He saw Max's subtle smile on the corner of her lip. "Well, I meant he's giving HER a bath."  
He laughed nervously.  
  
" Oh!, I understood the first time." Anxiety pumped up in her veins, she cough nervously, looking everywhere but at Logan. 'Kill me  
now!'  
  
"Look Max." Logan began to say, suddenly being more confident. "About yesterday." He stoped talking, swallowed, and bit his  
cheeks from inside his mouth. "I think that we should..."  
  
"Stay friends?" Max cut him up front, her heart was pumping two hundred miles an hour, scared as hell, and not about to let him say it at  
her place, so she did. Logan's face got blank.  
  
" Exactly, friends." He said back. 'NO!Not at all...that wasn't what I was about to say!, he shouted in his head, I meant to say: take  
it one day at a time...Not FRIENDS?...For the love of Mike, kill me now!...Don't you see the rope tied around my throat?' He tried not to let  
his feelings being transparent to Max.  
  
" Good. I'm glad you think it too." She made an approval sign with her head. The inspiration she just took was so hard, it was like she  
had razor blades in her throat. 'GLAD? Crap!...I'm not glad at all!'  
  
Logan thought the breath she just took was for relief. 'Couldn't you be just a little bit more discreet? Just push me over the balcony for god's  
sake!'  
  
Bling got out with Sophie in his arms. Max took her from him, happy to occupy herself with anything, just to ease the pain she had just seen in  
Logan's face.  
  
" I'll go clean up the bathroom. This little girl makes a lot of mess in a tub!" While walking back to the bathroom, he glanced at Logan  
and Max. 'What's with the two of them...they look like somebody died.'  
  
" Hello Boo!" Sophie was very pretty in her blue dress. "Humm, you smell good!" Max kissed her on the forehead.  
"Aunty Max has the whole day off with you!" She sat on the right side of the cough, and looked up at Logan.  
  
"She'll miss you." He said to Max.  
  
"Me too." Sophie took a lock of Max's hair in her hand and studied it. "Looks very interresting Boo?" She smiled while a  
tear fell on her cheek.  
  
Logan regained self composure and rolled his chair near them. He stoped aside of Max. He looked at her and wiped away the tear from her face with  
his right hand, which he lay there on her cheek, and not for a single solitary second did his eyes left her sight. Max closed her eyes and  
pressed her cheek in his palm, leaning her head a little toward him. She suddenly stared at him, and he understood everything. He made a slight  
smile at Max, and he felt his eyes starting to get watery. He swallowed his pride for once in his life.  
  
" Who are we kidding Max?" He paused a moment, clearing his voice. "Friends?" He managed a smile. "It's already too  
late for that." Sophie became agitated and Max put her on the floor.  
  
" I know...but what if..?" She started to say to Logan, but she got stoped by his kiss. He gently pressed his lips over hers, taking the  
time to taste them, since the overwelmed feeling and hurry of a first kiss was done. Max answered back, taking her arms around his neck, in a way that Logan  
coudn'd go very far without her, and They just kissed each other with great sensuousness.  
  
Bling got out of the bathroom and froze when he saw them. 'Finaly.' He couldn't help but look. 'Good God!' He hurried back to the room he was  
just in, before they could feel his presence. 'With that heat, I couldn't stay frozen forever...' He laughed at himself.  
  
Logan broke the kiss first and took Max in his arms. They stood like this for I don't know how long, it seemed eternity.  
  
"Don't you think I wasn't up all night too, asking myself tons of 'what ifs' ? Don't you think I don't know this could change everything?  
But it's too late now Max." He took her face in his hands and looked at her. "We can't just act like nothing happened? We already care too  
much. So YES, it could interfere in our judgement, but what can we honestly do about it now?" He looked so sincere.  
  
"Logan." Max began to say. "I've lost a lot of dear people in my life." She tried to get the right words out of her mouth.   
"And not that before it didn't matter or anything, but now the missions we do are appearing to me in a very different perspective."  
  
" I know. Getting you hurt or wathever is the last thing I want, and not to overrule Lydecker."  
  
" Yeah, I never know when he could just step in my face." You know I could get caught, and bring back at Manticore...  
  
" There's a lot of possibilities Max, and I'm aware of their existance. But we can't cut ourselves from the outside world. We will deal  
with what comes when it will come, OK?" He smiled at Max, hiding the fact that he was scared to death to loose her one day.  
  
" Sure, we managed so far, right?" Max saw hope in front of her.  
  
"Exactly. Aren't we just the best team!" He smiled back at her.  
  
" We are." They heard noises.  
  
Bling came out of the bathroom.  
"...Ahem...I'll leave you two love birds for a while, I have to go somewhere..." And he got out s fast as he came out.  
  
They both looked at the closed door and burst into laughs.  
  
  
MEANWHILE...  
Lydecker was reading the informations he just got from his computer. Hesmiled.  
  
"You'll be mine Max..."  
  



	23. Too little to late

  
  
SUNDAY AT NOON  
  
Max, Logan and Sophie were on their way to Jam Pony, since Original Cindy wanted to see Sophie before Bella bring her home tonight. It was a sunny  
day and they agreed to walk to get there.  
  
" I wont be walking though." Logan had said in a smile when Max had ask him if he wanted to walk to get there or take the car.  
  
" You perfectly know it's a figure of speach Logan..." She didn't want to make him feel awkward.  
  
" I know Max, I'm teasing you! I didn't want to upset you...sorry." Shut up Logan, you're making her uncomfortable!  
  
" I'm not upset." Max looked at Logan, who had tied Sophie on him to be able to push his chair without being afraid of her falling down.  
Sophie looked happy, she was giggling about everything that passes by them on the street. When they got near the garage door of Jam Pony, a black van  
got Max's attention. She stared at it for a few second. It was parked about 100 feet away, in a parking space, but there never was any car  
usualy. And this one was too clean to her satisfaction. 'I don't like this...', she said to herself.  
  
"Is there a problem Max?" Logan asked her, when he saw that her eyes were not letting go of the car, and that there was concern on her  
face.  
  
"No. I don't think so." She smiled at him and once again glanced at the vehicule. 'Oh! Stop it! You're being paranoiac!' But she hold her  
breath anyway.  
  
They got in, and Original Cindy was in front of Normal's desk. She turned towards them.  
  
"Hey!" She said to Max and then to Logan.  
  
"Hello/Hi." They said at the same time.  
  
"Hello Sugar!" She was now addressing herself to Sophie. "How cute are you today!" Original Cindy took her from Logan's  
arms. "She must be thirsty, I'll go give her some water, OK?" She disappeared.  
  
Max wasn't really listening to a word she was saying, the car in the street was too much on her mind. 'I wont be at peace unless I go see for  
myself.'  
  
" I wont be long." She said to Logan. "I just want to see something." She started to walk away when she added: "Don't do  
anything stupid!"  
  
"Why would I do anything stupid?" He said to Original Cindy.  
  
" Hey! She knows you better than me..." She said in a laugh.  
  
He watched the door where Max has disappeared. 'I don't like this.' He turned to Original Cindy.  
  
"Can you watch over Sophie for a sec? I wont be long gone."  
  
"Sure." What's with him?...I don't like this.  
  
Logan rolled his chair as fast as he could and when he finaly got outside, he looked around for Max. He saw her walking toward the black car that was  
parked a few feet away. 'What is she doing?'  
  
"Max?" He yelled at her. She turned her head toward him when she heard his voice. Then, the car's doors opened and two men got out. They  
started to point at Max what looked like a t.v. remote control and then, Logan saw her being neutralize by it. Max looked like she was recieving an  
electric shock, and she fell on the street, unconscious. The two men grabed her and put her on the back seat of the van, and they drove away as  
fast as they could.  
  
Logan stared at the empty parking place with horror, recollecting the event that just happened in front of his eyes. 'Just like that? Gone? Like  
in 10 seconds?' He couldn't believe this. He suddenly remembered Zack telling to Max how Lydecker had caught Brin, and it was just the same. He  
unfroze and got back in.  
  
"Give her to me, I have to go." Original Cindy knew better than to ask question when those two were ploting something. She saw that Max  
wasn't there.  
  
"Where's Max?" My home girl better be fine...  
  
" I don't have time to explain, okay? Just give me Sophie back, now!" She could see he was loosing it.  
  
" Tell me if there is anything I can do. Original Cindy isn't stupid, okay?" She gave him the child.  
  
" Just don't say anything to anyone for now. And I'll tell you if and when you can help us." Any extra hands I can find, I'll take it!  
  
" Be careful." She was concerned for both of them now. 'What the heck is going on? What IS always going on with those two!?'  
He flew off like his chair was supersonic!  
  
All through the way home, all he could think about was how many times Zack had told them this was going to happen, and that it was only a matter of  
time. 'Damn you to be right!'  
  
When Logan got to his Penthouse, he opened the door like a tornado.  
  
"BLING! BLING! FOR GOD'S SAKE WHERE ARE YOU?" He yelled.  
  
"Hey! Do you have a panic attack? What's the rush?" He's never talked to me like that.  
  
"Take Sophie." He wheeled himself to the computer. Bling stared at him like he was from another planet.  
  
"What's with you man?" He didn't see Max anywhere. "And where is Max?" That's it, first he lost his legs...and now he's  
loosing his mind!  
  
"Lydecker's got her." He said to Bling without taking off his eyes from the screen.  
  
"What are you gonna do?" Damn!...  
  
" I DON'T KNOW!" He yelled again. 'Don't do anything stupid!', she had told him...so she knew something wasn't right! Why didn't she tell  
me?' He breated deeply. "Should I expose Manticore? Or call Zack for help? Or maybe I should talk to Sebastian..." Logan stoped talking  
and said to Bling in a hurry: "We are going to see Sebastian."  
  
BACK AT MANTICORE  
  
Lydecker watched Max sleeping on the back seat of the van. She was going to be unconscious for an other 30 minutes at least. He looked at his men,  
McKnight and Johnson.  
  
"Take her inside. Carefully." The two soldiers looked at each other, and executed the orders to the letter. They grabed Max under the  
arms and took her inside the Manticore military base. Lydecker was following them. "Put her in Room B-265, and I'll take care of her  
myself." They entered a small room, about 20 feet by 15 feet, sat Max in a dentist-like chair, and tied her to it with straps.  
  
"Are you done?" Lydecker asked them.  
  
"Yes Sir." They replied.  
  
"Then get out of my face!" Morons!...  
  
He got near Max and set aside the strand of hair that was lying on her face. He sat on the chair that was beside Max's, waiting for her to wake  
up, and knowing that it wasn't for a good 10 minutes. 'You've grown up fine Max. You're very pretty, just like your mother was...' He went into  
an other time zone. A few minutes later, he came back to 2020 and looked at his watch. It was  
time for him to give her the shot to paralyse all muscle activity. He knew she was going to get angry when she'll wake up, and if he didn't injected  
it to her, she probably would be able to escape. And he couldn't allow it to happen, not this time. So he gave her 10 cc of Praxydin. 'That should  
be enough.' Even for you Max...  
  
When Max opened her eyes, she saw Lydecker's face 2 inches from hers. "Booo!" He said to her. "Did you miss me?" He smiled  
at her. "I told you I was going to get you one day! Don't I always keep my promesses?"  
  
Max wanted to speak to him but she couldn't open her mouth, nor move her arms and legs. 'YOU B*STARD!', she yelled at him in her head. Lydecker stared   
at her eyes, fixing her like a wolf fix his prey.  
  
"I bet you want to kick my a$$ now, right Max? But guess what? You can't!" He laughed ironically at her. "I see a lot of rage in yourself Max, so I guess it didn't   
left you through the years. What a shame...I'll have to break you down before remodeling you into a perfect soldier." He was walking around her and all Max  
could do was following him with her eyes. "You must think I wont be able to make you work for me again, but I will succeed Max, and YOU will be working for me!  
It worked very well with Brin, and she was no piece of cake at the beginning, believe me! But technology has evolved Max since you were here, and we now have  
a very great method of making you rurrender." He stoped in front of her and smiled, proud of himself.  
'Surrender my @ss!' Max thought. 'He's even crazier than what I remembered...Logan, please don't do anything irrationnal!' She saw the image of his face,   
when he called her name just before getting caught. 'He'd knew there was something that bothered me...' Lydecker stoped walking and fixed Max without   
blinking.  
  
"By the way, I knew I had seen that man before...in the wheelchair? He's the one from the genetic conference, right?" Lydecker stared again at Max, waiting for   
a reaction.  
  
  



	24. Manticore's reality

  
Logan and Bling arrived at Sebastian's a few minutes later. Sebastian looked at them, and was surprised to see a baby in Bling's arms. He moved  
his head from left to right, getting prepared to talk.  
  
"Hi! Logan." He stared at Bling. "Haven't seen you in a while Bling. Who is she?" He was looking at Sophie.  
  
" Hello Sebastian. This is Sophie, Logan's niece." Bling wanted to be polite so he answered his question, but he knew Logan was burning up  
inside and he didn't want to start a discussion. Sebastian realized Bling was feeling uncomfortable, and turned to Logan.  
  
" Where is Max?...You usually bring her with you."  
  
" That's why I'm here my friend, Lydecker's got her. She's back at Manticore, and I need your help." Logan wasn't hiding the fact that  
he was really concerned about Max.  
  
Sebastian stared at Logan in silence. He knew Logan was always here to get some information, and that he was in some way helping him, but never did  
he mention the 'help' word before. It was more of an understatement, coming out of friendship that grew through the years of helping one  
another.  
  
"Oh!, I understand..." Sebastian had lost his wife in the accident that got him handicaped, and he could remember the feeling of  
being afraid to loose someone you love. "You made the right choice coming to see me, because I have some informations about Manticore, that I  
think could be helpful to you." He saw the relief on Logan's face. He never asked if there was something going on with Max -it wasn't his  
buisness after all- but now he had his answer. 'I can't blame the guy, she's a very smart girl, and also attractive as hell!' Sebastian turned  
towards his computer. "Tell me how it happened, and when?"  
  
" It was around noon, maybe one o'clock, I can't be sure...We were heading for Jam Pony, where she works, to see a friend, and well, to make  
a story short, she got caught by two men. They neutralized her with some kind of electric charge, and then they grabed her and took off. It took  
less than 15 seconds!" And I stood there like a jackass...  
  
" Neutralized, you said? I've heard about that. It's an electric charge that is shuting down all neural activity. They just press the  
barcode's numbers in, and then they can neutralize the 'kid' they want for an hour, and hour and a half. Highly effective!"  
  
" So, she wasn't hurt?" Logan asked reluctantly. 'I have to know...'  
  
" Not from what I know, she must have felt the shock before she collapsed, but it didn't have the time for the pulsion to reach the  
central nervous system, and make her feel the pain. She was sort of sleeping afterwards."  
  
" I want her back Sebastian." It got out of Logan's mouth almost sounding like an order.  
  
" I know, but you should be aware that you can't fly into Manticore's base and ask for her back!" I hope he knows he's not Superman.  
  
" I'm not stupid! I still have my brain in my skull if you didn't know that fact! I came here, haven't I?" 'Relax man, he told himself,  
it's not his falt she's gone.' Logan put his thoughts togheter. "What do you know about the Manticore technologies since the year 2000?"  
  
" They are very clever Logan, it's a group of Einsteins altogheter." Sebastian opened a file that he has made on the X5 and  
Manticore evolution, the computer was obeying to his voice commands. "They now have a new training method for their kids. The X7 are the  
last group of futur soldiers, and they are about 10 years old. They aren't as good as the X5 though. They never could succeed at the reproduction of  
the fivers. Those ones are the best Lydecker ever has, and his dream to create a perfect line of soldiers went away the night of the  
electro-magnetic pulse, when the 12 kids escaped." He turned his chair and faced Logan.  
  
"What?" He's freaking me out now... "Spill it out!" I don't have all day...  
  
" It isn't Lydecker's goal to kill Max, or hurt her, even if she's been out for 10 years. He wants her, and he wont let go until she  
surrender...From what I learned, he knew her mother before all of this began." Logan's face got livid. "I know what you must think now,  
but I can't answer you. What is my gutt telling me? Frankly, I don't know. And from what I've seen of that man, when he was in the army he had a few  
disciplinary files. He's known to use cruel methods Logan. But as I said, he wont let her go very easy."  
  
" I'm listening." Oh - my - God...  
  
" Are you really? Because you have to make a plan, and a darn good one if you ever want to see her again. If it fails, you'll have to forget  
her, because she WILL forget you. Lydecker's doctors are using drastic methods now. First, they will weak her body, she will feel very tired all  
the time, so Max wont be able to defend herself in result of the drugs that they will inject her. She wont be able to fight back either, even if  
she minds herself to do so. And after, when they will see she isn't trying to to fight back anymore, they will play with her mind, showing her images  
of what her mind alone is the most afraid of by using virtual games, but she will think it's all true, and then, they will be able to erase her  
memory and implant a new one, a fictitious one." He paused to let Logan absorb all this information. "One which she'll think is and  
always were her real life. She wont remember the escape, and she wont remember you either. She may even like Lydecker...Are you following  
me?" I hate to see that expression on someone else's face, I've seen it too many times on mine.  
  
" I SO am." Logan breathed slowly. "So what do I do now, because for once in my life, I don't want to do as it comes...I can't do  
that, I'm too afraid of doing something that could hurt someone I care for..." A lot.  
  
" First, do you know someone with military training that could help? Or some guy that isn't afraid of much in his life? We need all the help we  
can get."  
  
" Yeah, I know someone." And for that same person, I've past the last few months wishing he would vanish in thin air.  
  
BACK AT MANTICORE  
  
When Max opened her eyes, she tried to focus on what was in front of her. She couldn't adjust her eyes to the image. It suddenly moved. 'I'm  
paralysed again...gggrrrr!...What drug did he give me? Son of a b1tch!..' She saw the silhouette getting closer to her. 'Don't touch me or I'll kick  
your butt! I'd do it anyway if I could...' She tried again to focus, but she wasn't seeing much, everything was foggy. She opened her mouth,  
thinking she couldn't probably talk like before, but she could.  
  
" Don't move closer..." She said to the person. It actually stoped.  
  
" I wont hurt you Max. Take your time, your eyes will get better, it's just a side effect from the drugs." Max recongnized the voice,  
but wasn't able to remember who's it was exactly. It has been a long time since she had hear it.  
  
" Who are you?..." She could feel the person walking nearer to her, but this time, Max didn't tell her to go away. She remembered  
trusting that person with her life.  
  
"It's me Max...Don't you remember me?" And then her face was enough close to Max's for her to see clearly.  
  
"You?!..." Said Max to her, smiling, and trying to hold back her tears.  
  
*********************************  
Talk to me, reviews are always welcome!  
J  



	25. The waiting

  
  
It was almost 3 o'clock when Logan opened the door of his Penthouse. Sebastian told him what to expect, but it wasn't good. He had to talk to  
Zack, but he didn't know how to reach him, so Logan got in front of his Eyes Only computer set and pushed the play button.  
  
" This is Eyes Only streaming freedom video. I'm addressing myself to one person in particular. If you recognize yourself, please call me back,  
I need your help for you know who. This message will be playing every 30 minutes until you check in." And he stoped the recording.  
  
" Now we wait." Said Bling, putting Sophie on the floor to let her move a bit.  
  
" Yeah..., replied Logan,...we wait. Like I have nothing else to do! He better be bright enough to know that I'm talking to him and call soon,  
or I'll kick his butt!"  
  
'Yeah right.' Thought Bling. He knew Logan was pissed off at Zack because he seemed like a good choice to poke on right now. Bling stared at Logan,  
who was arm crossed in front of the phone, waiting for it to ring.  
  
"You wont stay there until Zack calls back? You're making me nervous!" Logan faced him as if to say 'Am I supposed to care?'  
  
" Look, what do you want me to do?! Dance around? Watch T.V.? I can't do that!" It looked like the guy was angry at the world. "Damn!  
Max's back in that hell whole, and I have to wait for HIM to get in here! I can't risk to do anything in case it ends up hurting her! How fair is  
that, can you tell me?" He suddenly shut up, and frowned, staring at the empty place in front of him.  
  
There was silence.  
  
" You're not doing anything Logan." Bling tried to make him feel less powerless. "You saw Sebastian who told you what could be done,  
and what you need to do so. But reality is that the plan wont work without Zack's help, because honestly, he is the only one knowing the damn  
place."  
  
" I know that." Logan agreed, but he looked like he was ready to kick the butt of anyone who could come through the door.  
  
" Grow up!" Bling shouted to him. Logan stared at him in surprise. "You're acting like a teenager! Forget you hate the guy and  
concentrate on saving Max instead!" 'Sometimes, I could just strangle the guy!', he told himself.  
  
" I don't HATE him, I just don't LIKE him...very different." 'He's right, I feel stupid now.'  
  
" Just think of him as a friend who's coming to help you save her."  
  
" A friend...right!" Logan took a deep breath, almost ready to puke just at the thought of being friend with Zack. "Friends?!"  
He was kind of laughing now.  
  
"What?!" Now he's laughing?...  
  
" Friends?...not in this life time...hahaha...but thanks for the laugh."  
  
The phone rang. Logan almost broke it trying to answer it. "Hello?" He was very serious now.  
  
" It's me." Zack said. "What's the problem?"  
  
" She's been taken back there." Logan didn't want to say much on the phone line, you never know who's listening.  
  
" I'm coming." And Zack hung up, not letting Logan the time to ask him in how many hours he could be there.  
  
" That guy's doing everything humanly possible to piss me off!"  
  
Bling didn't say anything back, he knew Logan was irritated because Zack was his hope of ever seeing Max again...in one piece.  
  
The door bell rang. 'Not Zack?! Not that fast!' Logan wheeled himself to the door. 'It can't be him, he'll break a window...not rang the door  
bell?!' He opened the door and didn't have the time to place a word.  
  
" Hey, don't you ever do this to me again? Okay?" It was Original Cindy speaking so fast he couldn't even answer her. "You  
flew away like you had fire on your ass, letting me there not knowing anything and you think I'm gonna sit on my ass waiting? You better thing  
again Sugar, because Original Cindy is not about to do nothing while her home girl's in trouble. Aiight?" She got in and sat on the couch in  
the living room. "Now spill it out before Original Cindy gets a brain tumor!" She sounded very determined to get what she came for.  
  
Logan didn't know what to think. He was almost in shock.  
  
"Don't stay there looking at me like I'm an alien! I'm not going anywhere 'til to tell me what's going on, aiight?"  
  
" Look, I like you, but you don't know what you'll be getting yourself into. And I'm not sure Max would want you to to get in trouble on  
her behalf."  
  
" What's that crap you're telling me? Do I not look like a big girl to you? Original Cindy can make her own choices, aiight? Now tell."  
Logan rolled near her.  
  
" Where do I start...", began to say Logan to her.  
  
  
  



	26. Doctor Sera Dwain

  
Doctor Sera Dwain has been working for Manticore since 2005. She was a fresh doctor coming out of med school when she got her job at 25 years  
old. Her uncle spoke to her about this great opportunity for her, and by curiosity she applied. She got the job very easily since she was a very  
bright girl. Her uncle told her about the new experiments that were done on a military  
base, but he couldn't say much since it was a big secret.  
  
'Military.' just the word sounded interresting to Sera. But never did she think it was that kind of experiments, and now, she was stuck at that  
awful place forever. 'It's like the Mafia, once you're in, you can't go out.' She'd told herself 15 years ago, after having cried her eyes out.  
  
It was may the third 2005, Sera's first day at Manticore, and she was so eager to begin. Her uncle was the boss of this place and since she was the  
first of her class, he wanted her to work 'directly in the field', as he said to her. Sera was so happy to finaly be able to make a true  
contribution to the medecine science and the genetic evolution. But her dreams and hopes vanished when she saw what her job really was. She stood  
there, looking at those poor children acting like soldiers, warriors. 'Oh God...it's awfull!' She ran to her uncle's office and stormed in without  
knocking.  
  
" Are you nuts? I can't do this! You never told me it was THAT kind of experiments! Using children? It's just cruel, how can you put those  
kids through such phisical and psychological tortures?" She was angry as one could be. "It's pure Evil if you ask me!" She was a very  
determined woman.  
  
His eyes were fixed on hers, looking at Sera through his glasses, he walk towards her and sat on his desk. He was very calm.  
  
" I see character runs in the family, but I'm not asking your opinion Sera. Give yourself some time, you may change your perception of the whole  
situation."  
  
" I quit!" No way I'm staying here!  
  
He studied her a long moment, and decided to be straight with her.  
" You can't go back Sera. Not now, not EVER, do you understand me? If you quit, you'll finish dead in a dumpster somewhere. Do you want to know  
why?"  
  
Sera looked at him very differently. She was orrified by what he was telling her, HER, his own brother's daughter!  
  
" Because Sera, the X5 kids are geniuses, and they are the first of a great generation of perfect worriers to come. The world's coming to an end  
Sera, and we, the United States of America, have to be prepared for it, we have to win the battle!"  
  
'I can't believe this...I'm gonna be sick.'  
  
"You see, he continued, we can't take the chance of someone spilling their gutts to anyone, so we can't just make you sign a Silent Contract,  
and tell you ByeBye See You Around. It doesn't work that way. And even if so, you'd end up getting a bullet in the head by some guy wanting to make  
sure you stay silent. No one can sabotage this experiment. No one. You're following me?" He looked just like he was when he was telling her  
bedtime stories when she was a little girl, instead that now the story wasn't that great. 'He's acting like everything is just fine...how can  
he?', she asked herself. 'But then again, he's the boss, he's the creator of all this nightmare.'  
  
"Sera, do you understand what I'm telling you?" He was getting impatient.  
  
" Everything is crystal clear. You'll never hear me talking about this again, but lets just get something straight. I don't agree with it,  
but I'll make sure those kids stay healty. I'm doing it for them Donald, not you! Don't ever, EVER, forget that!" And she turned her back on  
him, her father's young brother, who was now the devil in person, and closed the door behind her.  
  
Never did he have to tell her how to do her job, and he was more than satisfied with his niece. 'She's getting over it, I knew she would come to  
reason.' But Lydecker's weakness is that he often underestimates the wrong people.  
  
One day, she heard of the killing.  
It was the little Eva he had shot. Sera thought she was going crazy when she heard the news. 'Not Eva!' That poor girl had many genetic flaws, and  
today, to make it worst, she made a big mistake in the pool test. Sera always knew Eva was the weakest of all the X5s, but she wanted to  
help her so bad. She had spend many hours talking to Eva, making strategies for her not to demonstrate her fear to others. But Eva wasn't  
able to handle it. And Lydecker knew she was having problems with the seizures, they were getting more and more stronger, and were about to be  
an obstacle to the X5's mission.  
So he killed her. She was sitting on her desk, grabing her head, trying to hold back the tears that were filling her eyes. She heard light steps near  
her. Sera lefted her head and saw a little girl all trembling in front of her, staring at her with her big brown eyes. She jumped up and closed the  
door of her medical office.  
  
" Max! What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be doing your training outside? You could get reprimands for that!" The girl just  
stared at her trying hard not to show her fear.  
  
" Please," said Max to Sera, "Please Dr. Dwain, don't let him kill me too." Sera looked at the kid who was begging for help.  
She saw that Max was having a seizure right now.  
  
" You have seizures like Eva?" She asked softly.  
  
" Yes, but not as bad." Max said, trying to clear her voice, and her mind of the image of Eva dead. She knew she wasn't supposed to be  
there, but she wanted to know why they were keeping Eva so long in the office, and when she looked, she saw him pulling the trigger.  
  
" You took great risks coming to see me Max. How did you know you could trust me?" I know that girl is clever, but a Manticore's doctor  
is enemy territory.  
  
"Eva told me how you tried to help her, and that you were a nice person." All Sera could see in that child's face was her eyes. 'She  
looks so innocent and fragile, and at the same time so wise and strong.'  
  
" Fine Max, I'll help you, but under one condition." Max said yes with her head. "You have to promess me that you will never, EVER,  
tell anyone about this, not even Jondy. Eva wasn't careful to tell you, but you Max, you are a reliable person, and she was lucky to have such a  
friend. But you are smarter than her, bless her soul, and if you know what's in your best interrest, you'll keep your mouth shut. For both of  
us." I could get kill, and so could she.  
  
"I swear I wont say a word." Max said sincerely.  
  
" Good." Sera told her. "Now come here that I look at you." Max wasn't sure she could move. "Come here, sit on the  
table. I just want to check your head for a minute. I wont hurt you." She smiled at Max, trying to unfroze the child. Max walked slowly and sat  
on the medical table, feeling awkward.  
  
"I'm going to look into your eyes with a light to make sure your blood vessels are intact in your retina, okay?" Sera knew those kids  
were smart, and that she would know what a retina is.  
  
"Okay." Max said, knowing that the doctor was waiting for her approval before doing it.  
  
Sera examined her, made some tests, and passed a CT scan. She gave Max 3 pills.  
  
"I'm giving you this until tomorrow. I have to get the results of the tests, but I'm pretty sure I know the problem." Sera put the pills in Max's hand.  
"And if tonight you feel the seizures coming back, you take another one, and the third if necessary. This is Tryptophan Max, it's serotonin supplements   
that your brain isn't producing enough, and the results is the seizing. But I really don't think it will be much of a problem to control them for now."  
  
"Okay, thank you Dr. Dwain."  
  
"Please call me Sera when you come see me. And don't worry for the tests, I'll destroy the evidence, nobody will know." Max headed to the door.  
  
"Wait! You'll get in trouble now because you weren't training with the others..." Sera tried to think of something.  
  
"Cut my leg. This way you'll have to make stiches and put a bandage on. I'll tell him I fell during the training while running, and came right here without   
telling him. He'll believe me, since I never follow orders to the letter."  
  
"I wont cut your leg!" I'm not hurting that child!  
  
"I'll do it then, give me something." Sera gave her the scalpel since Max looked like she was doing it one way or another. Max took the knife and made herself a  
great cut of about 2 inches. She hold back the tears. She then put the scalpel back on the table and kicked her wounded leg on the table's leg. Now she yelled.  
  
"Are you crazy?!" Sera had jumped when she'd seen Max do it.  
  
"It has to look real. This way I'll get a bruise and the cut wont look neatly cut." Sera stared at her. 'Wow, the kid knows where she's going in her life. You could never   
think she was 7 years old.'  
  
Sera wanted to give her something. She looked on her desk and saw the box of chocolat. Very good chocolat.  
  
"Do you want a piece of chocolat Max?" She suddenly wanted to spoil her.  
  
"What's chocolat?" Max asked her. 'What?, Sera thought, Well, I guess they never give them goodies here.'  
  
"Trust me, you'll like it." Sera took a piece of chocolat that looked like a bunny and gave it to Max. 'Put it in your mouth." Max put it in her mouth and her eyes   
just opened wide. She made Sera a big chocolaty smile and Sera bursted into laughs, but inside she wanted to cry.  
  
It has been 10 years since she last saw her. All this seemed so far away, but again so near. And now Max was in front of Sera again, back at Manticore. The prison she   
escaped years ago, thinking she'd probably never come back.  
  
"Will you help me Sera?" Max felt like she was 7 again.  
  
"I'll do my best Max." My best...  
  



	27. Strategy

  
Original Cindy was very serious for a moment, preparing herself to hear whatever Logan has to say to her.  
  
" You oughta tell me the truth 'cuz Original Cindy knows whenn someone's trying to fool her!" She said to Logan, who was sitting in  
front of her.  
  
"I wont lie to you, it wasn't my intention anyway, but I wont tell you everything either. That is for Max to do." He said seriously.  
  
" Aiight, Loogyboy! Original Cindy can live with an 70% truth." At least he's honest with me to tell me this, and he cares for my Boo  
too...oh yeah!  
  
Logan chose his words with precision.  
"Lets just keep it simple. Max used to work for some kind of military base, owned by the Goverment, who was doing research and experiments. I'm  
sure you've seen that she's a very smart girl, and that she can defend herself well?"  
  
"Yeah, I'm not blind."  
  
"Well, lets just say that when she took off, they weren't very happy about it. And now, they want her back...and they 'took' her...if you know  
what I mean." Logan thought he had said enough for now.  
  
"Damn! That explains a lot of stuff!" She went into her thoughts. "Was she some kind of spy or something?"  
  
" Or something." Logan answered.  
  
" How did she end up working for them?" She was now very curious to know more. 'My home girl's a James Bond?!!'  
  
" That's a long story that she's the one who can tell you. Please don't ask me more."  
  
"Aiight. Fair enough Logan." My Boo's deep into trouble...  
  
" Good." He went back to his computer and printed what he just recieved from Sebastian. Original Cindy started playing with Sophie, she  
looked at Logan, who was deep into what he was studying, and thought to herself that she kinds of understand why her Boo likes him so much. She  
faced Sophie and said to her very low "He's aiight for a three leg person!" She laughed at herself. 'Don't worry Boo, I'm still  
straight!' She put her down and came closer to Logan.  
  
" So what do we do?" He's cookin something in his brain of his, I can tell.  
  
" There's an other person who's missing, but who's suppose to be here soon...before I strangle him." He said to Original Cindy.  
  
" Why do I have the feeling you don't like that person very much? And what is that map?"  
  
" It's a map of Manticore, where Max is, and I'm trying to figure out where the security control might be. But Zack's the only one who knows it  
well, so we're waiting for him."  
  
"Zack?" Original Cindy asked Logan, her eyes wide open. "Not that blondie who used to work at JamPony?"  
  
"Yep! That one. He used to work with Max at the base when they were younger, that's why she didn't recognize him at first."  
  
" Man! It's a freakin' jungle! Original Cindy needs to sit down for a minute or her head will explode!" She was looking like she was having  
angina. Logan got nearer to her.  
  
" Look, Max never told you, because the less you know, the more you'll live."  
  
" I don't know what to say..." Damn!...  
  
"Please, don't hold grudges against Max."  
  
" Of course not...Do you think she's safe out there?" Safe...  
  
" I can't say for sure, but I know they want her, so she's supposed to be alive." She saw the line of concern on Logan's forehead.  
  
" You like her, don't you?" He stared at her with a little smile in the corner of his mouth.  
  
" Is it that obvious?" Maybe it's written on my face.  
  
" Yes, it is Boo, but don't worry, your secret's safe with Original Cindy." That's just because my girl already knows it!! Hehehe...  
  
It was 5 o'clock on the timer. Logan breated nervously, he didn't want Max to spend the night there, but it looked like it was going to happen.  
  
Zack showed up from nowhere  
  
" I'm here." He said to Logan. He looked at Original Cindy. "What is SHE doing here?" He asked Logan.  
  
" Hey! Blondie! I'm right here! Speak to me if you want to know something!" She stared at Zack, her arms crossed and showing an 'I  
don't like you face' to him.  
  
'I really like this girl!' Thought Logan, smiling.  
  
" People, people!" He said to them. " Now isn't the time for this. Behave now, for Max's sake, okay?" Zack ignored her and  
walked closer to Logan, who showed him the Manticore's map.  
  
"Great." Said Zack, studying it. "It didn't change much since we left." He took his bag and opened it for Logan to see what  
was in there. " I brought a few things with me that could be useful." There were all kinds of weapons, grenades, etc. "Are  
you okay with this?" He asked Logan.  
  
"You're asking ME? That's a first in History..." Logan looked at him akwardly.  
  
" I just wanted to make sure you wouldn't yelled at me when we'll get in. Then, it wont be the greatest time to discuss the methods we use, now  
is." He closed his bag.  
  
" I'm fine, lets just use this if we don't have other options. The goal is to keep her out of there safe, right?"  
  
" Right...until the next time?" Zack said to Logan ironically.  
  
" Don't start alright? I don't have time for this right now!" Logan and Zack stared into each other's eyes for about 2 minutes. After  
that, Original Cindy got tired of them and decided to speak her thoughts.  
  
" Now what's with the two of you? Don't you know Max is more important than your male egos? Damn! I'm happy to be attracted to females,  
because you two are too much for my eyes!" She left them standing there.  
  
Bling put some sandwiches on the kitchen table for everybody. They all sat around it to discuss the plan.  
  
"Are you sure you know how to stop the alarm detector for us to be able to enter the base?" Zack asked Logan.  
  
" Of course I'm sure, if I said I can, that's because I can!" 'There you go again', thought Bling and Original Cindy. They looked at  
each other in dispair.  
  
The door bell rang. Original Cindy went to open it. Bella was standing in front of her, smiling and looking a little surprised.  
  
" Can I speak to Logan, I'm his cousin Bella." Is this Max? I didn't picture her this way...  
  
" Sure Sugar, come in." She was about to close the door when she saw a man standing there. "Are you standing there or you come  
in?" She asked him. Bella laughed.  
  
" That's my husband Frank. He doesn't like a crowd of people!" It's not Max's voice.  
  
"We don't bite!" She said to him. "Logan!" She yelled.  
Logan came near them.  
  
" Hi! " Bella said, very happy to see him and Sophie. She took her in her arms. "Hello Sweety, did you miss me? Yes!" She saw  
that everybody at the kitchen table were staring at them.  
  
" I see you have company." She told Logan.  
  
"Yeah, you already know Original Cindy and Bling, and this is Zack." She made a smile to all of them as if to say 'hello'.  
  
Bella saw that he was nervous, and acted strangely. Sophie began to move a lot, she was all excited to see her mommy. "You're happy to see me Sophie?   
Yeah! You missed me!" God I missed her!  
  
"Yeah she missed you. Max said she cried 'mommy' for an hour the other day." He suddenly got silent over Max's mention.  
  
"Where is Max?" She asked him. All the others were looking down avoiding eye contact and trying to act cool, but she could see their little game. 'Okay,  
that's it!', she thought to herself.  
  
"Frank, can you take Sophie for a sec? I want to talk to Logan." They went into the living room.  
  
"Logan, what's going on here?" I'm not stupid.  
  
"Nothing's going on Bella." He said, not looking at her.  
  
"Please...you're such a bad liar! You could have done much better than this! Don't tell me 'nothing' is wrong! 'Something' is definitely wrong!" Bella stared  
at him intensively like she used to do when they were kids and she wanted to know something. "Where is Max?" There!...He flinched again!  
  
"She couldn't be here, but she says HI!" He simply said.  
  
"You almost look sincere, but tell me what happened to her." You know I'll stay here until you speak, so better speak soon!  
  
"Don't worry, Sophie never was in danger with her if that's what you're worried about." Logan told her.  
  
"What? I'm sure she wasn't in danger with her! She sounded like a nice person, and I can sense those things." 'And I can see the effects this girl has on you, and  
that's enough for me to know that she's a good person', she wanted to add, but didn't.  
  
"Look, just take Sophie with you and go, okay?" Please go...  
  
Bling appeared behind Isabella.  
"Wait Logan, if I remember well Bella did 3 years of med school before architecture, right?"  
  
"That's right." Bella said to Bling, now asking herself more questions.  
  
"Think about it Logan, maybe we could use her knowledge, because I'm not a doctor even if I know about medecine." And he disappeared.  
  
"Logan, said Bella to him, please, she took care of my girl, and if there's anything I can do forher. I'd very much like to do it." Logan thought for a minute.  
  
"Okay, but I don't want you to get hurt." She turned away from him and went to tell her husband, who was looking at her like she was crazy, to go home alone,  
and that she has to do something here before leaving.  
  
"Go! Frank, I'll take the next plane."  
  
"Anyway, you're always doing what you let your mind to." He said to his wife.  
  
"Frank, I promess you she'll return to you in one piece." Logan told him.  
  
"You better...You two are plotting like you're 12 again?"  
  
"Something like that." She said to Frank, 'It's just that now it's against the Government instead of the school', Logan thought. 'Give me my girl...she needs  
to be fed." He gave her Sophie and closed the door behind him.  
  
"Sorry." Logan said.  
  
" Bah! Don't worry about that! He's used to it! I'm always on some project trying to save the world!" She laughed at herself. "Well, now it's more serious   
than what I'm used to do, I guess?"  
  
Logan told her what he'd told Original Cindy.  
"And when we'll get her, we don't know in what shape she'll be, so that's when you pitch in."  
  
"I'm speachless Logan...you cannot joke around when the government is involved." Bella looked at all of them, ready to save that girl.  
  
"She must mean a lot to you guys to be ready to get your butt fried!" She told them.  
  
"She's the greatest of all kind my Boo, and I thank you Sugar for wanting to save her ass!" Original Cindy told Bella.  
  
"No problem Sugar!" She replied to her, thinking 'she's some funny lady!'  
  
"Now lets talk strategy." Said Zack.  
  
  



	28. I've fooled everyone!

  
THE SAME AFTERNOON AT MANTICORE  
  
Max was staring at Sera, her old friend who had so many times put her life on the line for her, trying to hide Max's condition. It hasn't been very  
easy to do it then, with her uncle watching closely every move Max made. Max didn't know why he was acting like that with her. For all those times  
she didn't follow orders, he never did anything to jeopardize her life. And Eva had made a single mistake, and she'd found herself with a bullet  
in the head. 'I guess, besides the seizures, he didn't like her very much.' Max had told herself then.  
  
"I feel very weak Sera," said Max, having to take all the strenght she had within herself to speak and move her fingers, "and I  
can't move much." She felt like an animal in a cage.  
  
"I know. They gave you Praxydin, a muscle paralyser." Sera looked at the I.V. that Max have pluged into her veins. "I don't know  
if they put something else in there though. It's a Dextrose 5%, it basically means it's sugar, but they didn't put it just for nurisment and  
for you to be hydrated, I'm sure." She touched Max's leg. "Do you feel my hand?"  
  
"Yes, I do, but it's a weird sensation, like it's numb or something." I don't like it...  
  
" It doesn't stop the blood flow, don't worry, you'll be walking in no time after they stop giving you medication." Sera tried to make  
her feel less scared.  
  
Max made an OK sign with her head, she felt drowsy, kind of like she was drunk.  
  
" I'm not feeling very well..." She started to be nauseated, and she had cold sweat.  
  
" It's the medication Max, but I can't stop it, or Lydecker will kill me." Damn, I hate to do this! "He thinks I'm here to take a look  
at you, and make sure everything's going as planed. I'm talking to you right now, because I know he's not on the other side of the mirror  
here." She pointed the big glass that was in front of Max, about 6 feet away, "Looking at you." Sera stoped talking, opened the  
door, and she told the guard that she was fine, the subject couldn't move, so she was safe alone. 'Go grab a bite or something.' He stared at her and  
said. 'Fine m'mam.' and went away. She came near Max, and smiled. "I have a surprise for you." As she said those words, the door opened  
and Brin came in.  
  
"Hi! Max! " Said Brin to her, happy to see her.  
  
"Brin?" Max asked, confused. "But...but Lydecker said that you were reprogramed..." 'What the heck is going on?' She thought.  
  
"Deck knows nothing Max." Brin started to say. "He's not as smart as we thought him to be when we were young. In fact, we are a lot  
smarter than him, than all of them." Brin sat besides Max, she was in better shape than the last time Max saw her, and they didn't cut her hair  
as well. "I made them believe I was a perfect soldier Max, that's all."  
  
" But how?..." How did it happen?  
  
" You see Max, Deck and is technology are bull. Our mind is so strong Max, we can do whatever we want to do with it, they can't play with it if  
we don't allow it to happen, and that's what Sera came to tell me when you and Zack bring me back here."  
  
"I'm so sorry Brin." Max managed to say, feeling so guilty of what she had done.  
  
" Oh! Max, don't be...I know you did it only because I asked you to do it!" Brin wasn't holding any grudges on them, in fact, she was  
alive because of her and Zack. "You gave me back a life Max, you know I wont stay here forever! I'm just happy you're here, this way it will get  
easier for us to escape." Max looked at her in surprise.  
  
"But how? I can't move Brin, my mouth is the only thing I can manage to move." She can take me in her arms, but still...  
  
"That's when Sera pitch in Max, when we'll be ready to go, she'll give you an antagonist, for reverse the effects of the drugs they're  
giving you. We already talked about it, when we learned you were here." Brin looked at Sera with a smile. 'She should come with us.'  
Brin thought, but knew she probably wouldn't. 'Too risky.'  
  
"Why didn't you try to escape before Brin?"  
  
"Because I had a sort of metal detector in my head, and if I crossed the Manticore territory, I was going to get desactivated. But I pass the 4  
months test, and it's been removed for having obeyed so well, so now I'm ready to go into the field, and work as a soldier for Lydecker. But I'll  
be long gone by then!" Brin sat up and walked closer to Sera.  
  
"We have to go now, but fight whatever they put in front of your eyes Max, some of it isn't true, so don't beat yourself up. Your mind is  
stronger, remember. And my guess is that we'll go tonight, so hang on." They were about to leave when Max think of something.  
  
"Wait!" Max said to them. "Can you call a friend of mine, I'm sure he and Zack are plotting something to get me out of here."  
Sera and Brin looked at each other.  
  
"Zack?" They asked awkwardly.  
  
"Yeah...what's wrong?" Why are they staring at me this way?  
  
" Isn't he dead?" Sera asked first.  
  
"What? Dead? Zack? What are you talking about?" Max started to be scared all of a sudden.  
  
"Well, Max," Brin said, "when Zack was here, he escaped and got caught by Lydecker's man, and he got stuck into a car that bursted  
into flames. Lydecker wrote a full report on this." Sera said.  
  
"I help Zack get out of here, so I KNOW he's alive." Max told them.  
  
"Why did Lydecker lied then?" Sera asked.  
  
"To cover his a$$." Max said. "He screw up once again, and wanted to make the superior believe he succeed. I guess he wrote something  
like Tinga and me escaped, but that Zack got caught by him later?"  
  
"Something like that." Sera thought for a sec. "So he's shaking in his pants our dear Deck?...That could be interresting..."  
Always good to know!  
  
"So, who's that guy you want me to call Max? Brin can't do it because she doesn't have outside access of the base."  
  
" His name is Logan." She doesn't need to know his last name, it's irrelevent. " Tell him when you think you'll want to do this, he  
could be of great help." Sera stared at her intensively.  
  
"Are you sure we can trust that person Max?" We can't take any chance.  
  
"With my life Sera, I swear. He knows everything about me, and this place. He never told anyone. Trust me." Sera wasn't sure about it.  
  
"Fine, if you swear, I'll trust you, and him. What's his number?"  
  
"555-3219." Sera repeat it in her head lots of times to remember it, since she couldn't write it anywhere...papers, you always loose them.  
And here isn't the place to loose something!  
  
"Be prepared for the ride of your life Max!" And they got out of the room B-265 before anyone could see them. Max saw the guard looking  
through the door's window to make sure everything was fine, so he stood there like he was never gone.  
  
Sera got into her appartment towards 7:00. She was about to do Logan's phone number when she thought that her phone might be wired. 'With them...  
who knows?' So she got out and walked near the public payphone, around the corner of the street. She dialed the numbers. Someone answered, it was a man's voice.  
  
"Hey!" It only said, sounding quite nervous.  
  
"Am I speaking to Logan?" She asked.  
  
"Yes, it's me...Who are you?"  
  
"My name is Sera. I'm a friend of Max. She gave me your number for me to call you." There was a pause, nobody talked, he probably was suspicious. "Look, I know I can't  
offer you much right now, but I'm trusting you, and I could get into big trouble for this. Max told me she trusted you with her life, so it's good enough for me."  
  
"Who are you?" He repeated.  
  
" I'm someone who helped Max when she was 9 years old, and who's willing to help her again." Please believe me...  
  
"I'm listening." The man finaly said to Sera.  
  
  



	29. Mental tortures

  
  
Max was in her thoughts when she heard Lydecker come in with some Doctor who looked like a true scientist. He had glasses at the end of his nose,  
his hair not comb at all, grayish, wearing a white scrub.  
  
"Wow! Deck, I'm impressed by your technology! You were even able to bring back to life Einstein!" Max said ironically, just to irritate  
him.  
  
Lydecker stared at her, smiling.  
  
"Well Max, I see you've gain your speaking faculty back. How nice!" He turned towards Einstein here and said: "Shut her  
up!" The Doc injected some drug in the Dextrose I/V and Max began to feel her mouth numb again. 'Let me go you piece of sh1t!', she said to  
Deck, but of course, she coudn't say it out loud. 'Just wait Max, tonight you'll be able to kick his a$$!', she told herself. She must have been  
looking funny, because Lydecker fixed her with his eyes.  
  
'I'd like to know what she's thinking right now.' He thought. 'She probably think she's so smarter than me...will see you wins the battle!'  
  
Max tried to get herself out of the straps that were fixing her to the chair, but she wasn't able to do it. 'Great! Now Sophie is stronger than  
me!'  
  
"Sweet dreams Max." Said Lydecker before leaving her alone in the room. The room became suddenly very dark, and she felt herself being  
stuck to the chair, like she was sleepy, but without being so. It was a very strange sensation. She stared at herself in the mirror. 'Gosh, I look  
40 years old!' Her eyes had dark purple circles under them, and she was white as milk. 'I'm a vampire...' she thought, laughing, and trying to  
relax herself. But she wasn't relaxed at all, she was very tense. 'What the hell will happen now?' She tried to see through the mirror, but she  
couldn't.'Yeah, I don't have those powers to see through walls...I guess they're staring at me right now, and I can't even make a finger at him.  
What a shame!'  
Max's eyes went wide open, like somebody was tearing on each side of her eyes. She couldn't control them anymore. 'What's this?' A white square  
appeared in front of her face, and she saw herself when she was young, and at Manticore. 'A movie about my life...how entertaining!' She told herself  
sarcastically.  
  
But it became less enjoyable, it wasn't just Max sitting in her chair listening to orders now, it was Max being in a chair, having experiments  
done on her, by some Doc who she never had the pleasure to see before, or after. When they got out of there, they were usually going to Dr. Dwain,  
who was making sure the treatments weren't in any case a treath to their health. And then came the images of Eva, and her killing. Max tried to  
hold back the tears that were rolling down her cheeks without stoping. 'Why do they want to show me this?'  
  
Everything Max had tried so hard to forget all those years were again in front of her. All those painfull moments she'd locked up somewhere deep  
inside of her were surfacing again, and they were there, in front of her, like she was reliving all of them, one by one. 'Stop it!' She started to  
feel sick, she was sweating a lot, and her head was turning so fast, all the room was turning.  
The images changed in front of her eyes, and the turning stoped. She saw a woman, who looked just like her. 'Mom?' she thought. It was a very  
beautiful dark haired woman of about 20 years of age. The woman was speaking to someone, smiling, but Max couldn't see the other one. And then  
she saw a man's hand touching her belly, the woman was pregnant, and Max saw the man's face as he entered the screen, kissing the woman.  
'What?...No!...NO! What the hell is this? What does that mean? Could he be my father? No way?! It can't be? I'm gonna be sick! Please someone get me  
out of here! I WANT TO GO OUT!' Max could shout all she wanted, nobody was hearing her, thought they were sure she probably didn't like what she was  
seeing. Isn't what it was all about?  
  
She wanted to close her eyes, but couldn't, like they were not answering to her mind's command. She saw the woman gave birth, it was a little girl.  
'Is it really me?', she asked herself, now about to cry. And then the woman tried to escape with the child, but got arrested by Lydecker, who  
took the child from her and walked away. Max could see the woman was hysterical, and that she was crying a lot, she could read on her lips 'NO,  
PLEASE! DON'T TAKE HER AWAY!', and then everything got black. Max took a deep breath, like she didn't took one in years. Her heart saw  
speeding fast, and her mind was racing up, desoriented and confused. 'What's all this?...Remember what Brin told you...things aren't all true.  
But how can I make the difference?' She felt very confused, and she didn't want to believe all those things, but she was in a vulnerable state, and  
Lydecker knew it could bring her down.  
  
The flashes continued in front of her eyes again, but now she saw Logan. 'What? how can this be possible?' She saw when she first met him, and all  
the months they passed togheter. Max began to be scared, thinking that the next image was probably something she didn't want to see. And then she saw  
him as he was this morning, when he called her name. She saw herself being neutralized, like she had been a third witness, and she saw the look  
of Logan, standing there horrified at what he was seeing. She saw herself be grabed by those goons and put into the car. And then, she saw the car  
driving by Logan, a window going down, a gun, and a shot right into his head. 'NO! NO!, It's not true!, she told herself, It can't be true, NO  
WAY!' Max's heart missed a beat, she could feel the horror of what might be the truth. 'Logan...' He was looking at her, his eyes open, white,  
livid, without any life in him, staring at the sky. Dead.  
  
'It's not true', she told herself repeatedly, 'it's not true, I would have sense it, I would know...sure I would, would I?' She remembered Lydecker  
telling her he had remembered recognizing the man in the wheelchair. 'And him? My father?'  
Max couldn't think anymore, staring at what was in front of her eyes. 'They're playing with my mind. Don't watch it Max, think of something  
else.' She told herself. 'It's not true, don't believe it...' She told herself over and over again, trying to get a hold of herself.  
  
****************************************  
PLEASE DON'T BE A SILENT READER!  
Anna/Juliette  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	30. We're coming!

  
They were on their way to Manticore, ready to fight for Max. Logan had talked to Sera and they had established the hour of when they were going  
to be at Manticore. 'She better be truthful, or we all are going to end up dead.' He had thought earlier, when he'd hung up the phone. But something  
told him that she was sincere, plus it made sense that a doctor was covering up for Max's seizures back then. Anything he could tell himself  
for trusting that woman was good for him at the moment. 'Calm yourself man! Zack told you this Sera was a doc from Manticore and that she always  
seemed to be involved with Max more than professionaly.'  
  
Logan looked at his watch, it was 10:45 PM. 'Almost time!' He was in the back seat of his car driven by Original Cindy, and Bella was in the  
passenger seat. He looked at the screen of his portable computer, it was Sebastian who was answering his question. Logan had asked him how to break  
down the security system of Manticore, because he had been trying to find the code, but without any success so far. 'Damn!' There was a number that  
didn't fit in, but Sebastian told him what to do, and he was able to find it. 'Good!' He thought. 'I knew that guy would know exactly what to do.'  
He heard Bella take a deep breath.  
  
" Are you having second thoughts Bella?" He asked her, understanding that she could want to step back.  
  
" God no!" She said to Logan. "I'm just wondering if Sophie will be fine with Mrs.Moreno?" 'That old lady don't have all of her  
head connections' Bella had thought when she saw her.  
  
"Of course! That woman was so pleased to baby-sit her! Don't worry Bella, she'll be okay."  
  
"Yeah." Bella said fixing a non existant place.  
  
"Don't worry Sugar, that little Pearl of yours will be just fine." Original Cindy told her. "That grandma will take good  
care of your Boo!" Bella made a smile to Original Cindy as a thank you, but Original Cindy just looked awkwardly in front of her. 'Damn!  
She's hot!'  
  
Logan took a peek behind the Aztec to make sure Zack and Bling were following them, and they were. He breathed from relief. Original Cindy and  
Bella looked at each other without saying a word, knowing that he would probably deny publicly all feelings.  
  
When they approached the Manticore electric metal doors, they stoped both cars. It was the only way in, they had decided that a car was less noisy  
that an helicopter. Logan taped the secret code in his computer, and a few seconds later, the doors opened without any alarm noise. 'It's working!',  
they got in the military territory and he closed the doors behind them. 'Better be careful.'  
  
"Yes!", said Original Cindy to him, "You're the man!" She smiled at him and prepared herself to pushed the accelerator.  
  
Zack got out of Bling's car, he went behind the vehicule and took off the licence plate of both cars and gave them to Logan through the window.  
  
" Better be careful." He said to him, "And after that, I suggest you to change your car, they will get suspicious if everytime Max  
is involved there's a silver Pontiac Aztec not far away." Zack looked at Logan as if he was the dumbest guy on earth for not having thought  
about it before. 'Sh1t!, Logan said to himself, he's right, I'm the dumbest of all!' Well...  
  
Zack returned in Bling's car and they drove about 10 minutes, slowly, with the lights closed. When they got near the perimeters of the base, they  
stoped the cars.  
  
"Showtime!" Original Cindy said. "I would sure have liked to kick some a$$es for my Boo, but Original Cindy's no fighter! Can't even  
managed to kill a bug!"  
  
" That's why you'll take care of Bling's car when they'll be gone." Logan said to her, knowing perfectly how she must feel.  
"Now lets get our fingers crossed."  
  
Zack and Bling got out of the car with their metal toys. 'Just in case.' Logan thought. 'Right!' They came near them.  
  
"Zack, you have one hour as of now to get into Manticore, and to get out with Max. After that, the alarm system will kick in." Zack looked  
at his watch to make sure of the exact time and made an okay sign with his head.  
  
"Fine." He replied to Logan.  
  
" Here's a phone, the red button is directly connected to mine here, the exact moment you have her, you call and we'll come to get you with the  
cars. Alright?" 'Please just get her out of there.'  
  
"Check." Zack said like a true soldier.  
  
"Be careful." Logan said to him, surprised of himself. Zack stared at Logan, asking himself if he had just heard right.  
  
" Sure." He replied as if nothing happened. Both of them full of their men egos.  
  
Bella opened the car's door and got out. She took her long blond hair and made it into a pony tail.  
  
"Bella?!" Ordered Logan, knowing that it was a dead end. "You get your butt right in here!" 'I just KNEW she would pull  
something like this!'  
  
Zack stared at Bella.  
"Look, Bling can take care of himself, plus I showed him a few movements earlier, but you?" He paused, looking at this girl who was  
about 30 years old, and who wasn't very tall, about 5"4'. "I can't do my job perfectly if I have to look after you all the time."  
Bella stared at him, her arms crossed.  
  
'Oh!oh...' thought Logan, amused by the stubbornness of his cousin, and kind of proud too.  
  
" Let me tell you something Zack. I can kick the a$$es of anyone who's in my way, including yours. I'm a black belt in karate, so don't  
toy with me! Am I making myself clear?" Zack stared at this woman who was suddenly ready to kick his a$$ and he  
wanted to laugh. 'We'll see about that!', he thought.  
  
"Try me." He defied her. He saw fire pass through her eyes and she started to fight him. She was doing very well, her kicks had great  
strength in them, and she had some strategy in her fighting, but Zack knew that of course she couldn't beat an X5. So he grabed her and blocked her  
arms behind her tightly. She couldn't move anymore, her face was inches away from his and the way he was smiling at her just made her angrier.  
'She's in very good shape.' He thought to himself.  
  
"Your good. It's okay if you want to come with us." Zack said to Bella.  
  
"Then let ME go!" She replied to him. 'What's with him?'  
  
Zack felt suddenly weird and he let her go. "Sorry." He said trying to repress the warm feeling that was  
growing inside of him. 'What the hell?!'  
  
" Bella?" Said Logan to his cousin, "Please don't do anything stupid." She looked at him as if to say: 'Me? Do something  
stupid? Why would I do that?!' She smiled.  
  
"Good luck Sugar." Said Original Cindy to Bella.  
  
Logan and her looked at the three of them running near the base. Original Cindy turned herself to face Logan.  
  
"Damn! It's sad Bella's straight! She's a lickety chick your cousin!" She said to Logan, who couldn't help himself and laughed  
hearing those words.  
  
"Lickety chick!" He repeated, smiling. 'By what I could see, you're not the only one finding Bella lickety!' Logan said to himself  
thinking of Zack.  
  
" Yeah,lickety...just like Max?" Original Cindy said, staring at Logan with an half smile. She could see he was blushing through the root of his hair.  
  
"I plea de fifth amendment." He replied seriously.  
  
"Yeah!...You bet!" She said accusing him. "The fifth amendment ...bah!...you only plead that when you know that what you'll say could incriminate you." She   
smiled at him, and turned around in her seat, looking through the windshield. 'I hope she's fine.'  
  
  
  
  



	31. Showtime!

  
  
Zack, Bling and Bella got near the Manticore back entrance. Zack looked at his watch. 11:10. They walked bording the wall of the building and Zack  
showed to Bling the security camera. 'Just in case Brin has problems.' Bling made an OK sign with his head and took care of it.  
Zack took his master key and opened the door. He waited for the alarm to start, but there was absolute silence. 'Well, at least Logan's good at  
something.' Zack waited for Bling and when he came back, they all got in togheter.  
  
* * *  
  
Brin got herself out of bed, trying not to made noises. She looked at her watch. 11:05. 'Good.' She was already dressed. 'No time to loose on silly  
stuff like putting your clothes on in times of crisis.' She thought to herself. She slowly opened the door of her room, took a look outside, no  
one, she then walked through the hallway to get into the security room.  
  
"What are you...?" Started to ask the guard, but Brin knocked him out before he could finish his sentence. She taped the code and  
blocked all the cameras to make the images perfectly still. 'This way nobody will see people going into Manticore.' Brin looked at her watch  
again. 11:10. 'Showtime!'  
  
* * *  
  
Sera looked at her watch. 11:00. She got into the room B-265 very easily. There wasn't any guard at this hour usually. The cameras were doing the  
work. She stared at Max, who was just lying there, fixing an empty place in front of her, her eyes wide open and kind of in a catatonic state.  
  
" Max! Are you okay?" Sera asked, but Max didn't answer her, like she wasn't even hearing her. "Max?" She took her blood  
pulse. 'Damn!' It was very weak, but present. She injected her 3cc of Narcan and after that, she unglugged the I.V. solution. "Max, talk to  
me." Sera aknowledge a little eye movement. She took the eye solution she had in her pocket since she had trouble herself with eye dryness, and  
put one drop of Visine into Max's eyes to moist them.  
Max began to wink a bit, and the images that were in front of her since 2:00 this afternoon began to fade, and then vanished. She couldn't believe  
they weren't in front of her anymore. Instead, she saw Sera's face.  
  
"Sera? What are you doing here?" Max asked, having no clue of what was going on.  
  
" What? Don't you remember Max? Think...hard!" Sera ordered her.   
Max went into her thoughts to recollect the events of the day.  
  
" Oh! yeah...I remember." Sera was relieved, she had been scared for a second that Max really had forgotten everything.  
  
" Are you feeling better now?" She asked out of concern.  
  
"A little." Max said, trying to smile despite the fact that her body was hurting like hell. 'That's what not moving for 9 hours do to  
you.'  
  
" I have to go before I get caught. Take care." Brin got into the room, ready to conquer the whole world. Max could see in her face that  
she was eager to get out of this place. 'I don't blame her!' Max thought.  
  
" Brin, said Sera to her, here's the vial of Narcan, give her 2cc of it in about an hour if she's not better. And here is her medical chart, in  
case anything happens. Just give it to someone named Logan, okay?" She'd stolen the chart from Lydecker's office, wishing she wasn't about to  
die because of it. Sera got out of the room, praying to Whoever was up there to help those kids. 'I know I'm not a great believer, but please...'  
  
"Come on Max!" Brin unstrapped her and put her arms around Max, so she could put hers around Brin's shoulders. "Good, now hang on and  
we'll be out of this ghetto in no time!" They both turned towards the door, cligning to one another, only to find their heads being the target  
of Lydecker's gun.  
  
* * *  
  
The three of them were walking in silence in the hallway of the first floor of the base. They had to find the stairs to go to the second one to  
reach the room B-265. Zack saw the stairs sign, and before opening it, he made the others stay behind him. He opened the door very fast and found  
himself in front of 4 soldiers. 'Damn!'  
  
Zack punched the first one right in the face without the guy realizing there was someone in front of him. He kicked the second one so hard in the  
stomac that he couldn't stand up either. Bling took care of the third one, who was much more stronger than his buddy lying on the floor. Zack help  
him. Bella took care of the forth man, who said to her "Hello Sweety!", when he got into her face. They were fighting like hell and  
Zack was impressed by the strength of Isabella. As for Bling, well, the guy's Mr. Muscle, but he still needed back up since there was Terminator  
in front of him. Two against one was good, Zack kicked the soldier in the chest, and it made the guy loose his breathing faculty, and when he turn  
towards Bling, he didn't get very lucky, Bling punched him in the jaw and the guy fell down, bleeding. They heard Bella fighting and she gave the  
forth soldier a punch in the face, and then she turned to kick him in the stomac, and when he fold forward, she finished him with a good one on the  
back. "Sweety my a$$!" She said to him, who was lying unconcious on the floor. She turned and saw the two guys were looking at her in  
astonishment. She smiled.  
  
"I'm impressed!" Said Bling. Zack didn't say anything, but he sure thought it.  
  
"Thank you Bling, you're not bad yourself." She looked at Zack right into his eyes. "As for you Zack, I thought you could do  
better." And she walked in front of him, smiling with victory. She was now very glad to have taken those classes in High School. She could  
remember Logan teasing her about it. 'He's not teasing me now, huh?' They walked up the stairs and opened the door to the hallway.  
  
"It's clear." Said Zack to them. He made a sign for them tofollow him. As they were getting near the room B-265, Zack could hear  
voices.  
  
" Lydecker..." Zack said to himself.  
  
  
  



	32. Escape & Evade

  
  
'Damn! It's Lydecker!' Zack thought. He didn't have the time to finish what he was saying that he saw him being thrown out of the room, to end up  
hitting the wall in front of the room. Brin had kicked him right in the wrist, making the weapon fly out of Lydecker's reach. Zack saw Brin walked  
near Lydecker and being ready to kick him in the chest, but this time, Lydecker got faster, and was able to grab her foot and make her turn in  
the air making her taste the dust.  
Zack jumped right on him and was able to knock him down. 'Oh! It felt good!' He thought to himself. He then helped Brin getting up on her feet.  
  
"Brin, are you alright?"  
  
"Yeah, I am." She said to him, giving him a hug, happy to see he was still alive.  
  
In the meantime Bella and Bling were trying to wake Max up. She'd been lying on the floor when they found her. Brin didn't had the choice but  
droping her on the floor to fight back Lydecker. 'Ecchymosis is better than a hole in your head!' She had said to herself.  
  
"God...", said Bling to Bella, "I almost didn't recognized her...just look at her...what the hell did they do to her?" Max  
looked bad, very bad.  
  
"Max! Talk to me!" Bella was trying to get any reaction, but Max couldn't speak back, she was semiconscious. Bella took her pulse.  
"It's too weak for her heart to pump much longer."  
  
Brin came near them and she gave the vial Sera had given her to Bella. " Max received a muscle paralyser...Praxydin, and another drug I  
ignore." Sera gave her 3cc I think." Bella read the label NARCAN, she remembered what it was.  
  
"Good, but right now, she's too weak, I need adrenaline or she wont make it. Where can I find it?" Bella asked Brin.  
  
"We don't have time for it Bella." Zack said, knowing they had to get out the faster the better.  
  
"Look, I'm not leaving that place without that drug, is that clear?" She said, letting no place for him to argue.  
  
"Take Max with you guys, and I'll get the drug with Bella." That's the spirit!..  
  
Bella and Brin ran to the medecine cabinet, who wasn't far away. Brin broke the glass and Bella took the Epinephrine vial with a seringe.  
  
"Now, lets get out of here!" Brin said to her, starting to getnervous.  
They were near the Manticore's outside door when they heard a metal sound behind them. The kind of sound you know you just have to stay still and  
not move an inch or you'll end up having a bullet in your head.  
  
"Well, well, well." Lydecker said. "Look who's trying to get out of here!" He stared at Brin who wasn't saying a word.  
"And as for you Blondie, I don't know who you are, but you're not going to live much longer for me to find that out." Lydecker made a  
sign to his soldier to take them, and it's now that Brin saw Sera behing Lydecker. 'Oh! no...' Lydecker ordered Sera to bring Brin to sleep.  
'B*stard!' thought Bella.  
The soldiers didn't have the time to touch Brin or Bella that Zack came behind them and knock both the two soldiers out. He aimed the gun he had  
taken from the room B-265 at Lydecker's face. During that time, Brin saw that Sera was kind of imploring her to kick her too for them not to get  
suspicious if she was the only one without any bruises. Brin understood her, and knocked her unconscious, wishing it didn't hurt too much.  
  
"You really should train your men better than this Deck." Zack told him, still holding the gun in his face.  
  
"You wouldn't dare killing me." Lydecker said to Zack with a smile.  
  
"Maybe he wouldn't, but me?" said Bella, walking nearer to Lydecker. "And for the record, I'm NOT a Blondie, I'm your worst  
enemy!" With that she punched him right in the nose, making him bleed and tortured from the pain it cost him.  
  
Zack looked at her, smiling.  
" It sure feels good, huh?"  
  
"Oh!yeah...It felt great! And I always wanted to say that!" She replied to him, smiling unconsciously. "Now where's our girl?"  
  
" Bling's supposed to have her." They ran towards the two cars that were coming in at 200 miles an hour.  
  
  
  



	33. Nice to finaly meet you

  
  
Lydecker was still dizzy from bella's punch, but he was gaining back his consiousness, so they decided to drive the hell away from there.  
  
Zack got with Bling and Brin in Bling's car. The others were in Logan's. Original Cindy helped them put Max in the back seat, Logan got himself  
next to Max, and then she sat behind the wheel and they drove out as fast as they could. They heard helicopter noises and SUVs starting to follow  
them behind. 'F*ck!' thought Original Cindy. 'It's a freakin Carnival!' She pushed the accelerator until the thought that her foot was going to  
pass through the floor.  
  
"F*ck! F*ck! F*ck!" She said out loud, seeing the damn SUV's getting nearer to both cars.  
  
"Just look ahead of you." Said Logan to her. 'Damn!'  
  
Then he saw the helicopter back off, and the SUVs stop, and turned around, letting them go. 'It's not normal, Logan thought, something's up...I don't  
like this.'  
Original Cindy seemed relieved to see them disappear because she was about to yell until her vocal cords got mute.  
  
"Why the hell did they do that?" She asked Logan, staring at him and Max in the rear-view mirror. 'Sh1t!, she thought, she looks like  
hell!'  
  
"I have no idea, but we'll soon find out, I'm sure. Just get us out of here Cindy." He hold Max in his arms and took a good look at her.  
When he saw how much Max was in a bad shape, his heart started to ache. Bella got her Epinephrine vial and started to fill 5cc of it in the  
seringe. She managed to get her seat down and grabed Max's arm. She saw how Logan was fixing her.  
  
"I need to get some adrenaline in her blood system, because she received too much drugs that depressed her central nervous system, her  
brain so to speak. That heart of hers has to pump!" Bella shooted as fast as she could the juice in Max's vein and she got back on her seat,  
not wanting to disturbed them. She's been feeling like an intruder there. "Tell me when you'll feel her pulse being stronger and regular."  
  
Logan answered her by a head sign since he didn't know if he could talk right now. He had been so scared to loose her, and now that he had her in  
his arms, he felt like he was about to cry. 'Cale! Get a grip of yourself!'  
  
"What did they do to you Max?" He said out loud, gently caressing her hair with his hand while hiding his face in it. He could  
just feel the pain growing in his throat, ready to explode.  
  
Max moved and mumbled something no one could understand. He took her pulse and it seemed to be at a normal rate. He smiled at Bella, who had  
instinctively turned her head when she'd heard Max. Logan stared at Max, who began slowly to open her eyes. She stared back at Logan as if he was a  
ghost.  
  
"Hey Gorgeous!" He said to her, smiling.  
  
"Logan?..." He stared at her with so much emotion. 'God I love those eyes!' Max thought to herself.  
  
"Shhhh!" He said to her. "Try to get some rest."  
  
"You came for me." She sounded surprised, and tears began to form themselves in her eyes.  
  
" What do you think Max?" He replid, softly caressing her hair away from her face. "That I would have let you rot in there? Yeah,  
right..." Max's head was resting on his shoulder. She took her hand and pushed his head until their lips met. She kissed him lightly, and  
Logan answered with tenderness, not even caring about Original Cindy and Bella who were feeling like they should get out of the car, but under the  
circumstances couldn't.  
  
" I thought you were dead..." Max told him.  
  
"I'm very much alive." 'But I was so afraid you were too until that Sera called.'  
  
They all got into Logan's appartment at 1 o'clock in the morning.  
  
"Do whatever you want with the cars." Logan said to Zack. "Just make them disappear." Zack said OK and got out with the  
car keys.  
  
"Don't worry Bling, I'll get you another one."  
  
"No problem man, we'll talk about it later."  
  
Original Cindy and Bella put Max on Logan's bed. She was still weak, but she was gaining some strength in her legs. Max looked at Bella weirdly.  
  
"Who are you?" Bella was preparing a seringe of Narcan.  
  
"I'm Isabella." She gently said to her, knowing Max was going to feel like hell in a second, and it did.  
  
"What a mess!" Said Max to both of them.  
  
"Don't worry Boo, that boy of yours didn't tell us all the truth, just the minimum." Original Cindy said to Max, trying to make her  
feel better.  
  
"I'm giving you a medication that will help stop the effects of the drugs they gave you." She saw Max's face and started to laugh.  
"Don't worry, I know how to do this, I did 3 years of med school!" Max acted like it didn't mattered to her, but honestly she  
doesn't like needles very much. Bella injected it to her.  
  
" Thank you." Max said to Bella. 'What a nice way to meet you.' She thought sarcastically.  
  
"Don't mention it." Bella said to Max before closing the door behing Original Cindy and herself.  
  
She and Original Cindy went to the living room where everybody was. Logan was talking to Brin, telling her she could sleep on the couch if she  
wanted to. Bella was already sleeping in the guest room with her daughter. He took the chart Brin was giving him, and put it on his desk without  
looking at it. He wheeled near his cousin.  
  
"How is she?" Asked Logan.  
  
" She'll be just fine, I think she feels bad we all put our life on the line for her."  
  
"Yeah, that's Max."  
  
"But she'll be okay Logan. Don't worry."  
  
"Thanks Bella, really."  
  
"What's with all of you people!" She said smiling at him. "Don't mention it, it was my pleasure!" She was walking to the  
front door to go upstairs to take her girl back, when Zack opened the door as he was coming in, and smacked it in Bella's face, letting her with a  
big cut on her lips. Zack turned white and stared at her, who was feeling dizzy, and who was pretty aware of the pain grwing inside of her.  
  
"I'm so sorry!" Zack said to her. "Are you okay?" He felt terribly bad.  
  
" If you wanted me dead, why didn't you just let that moron kill me earlier?!" She said to him, wipping out the blood that was dripping  
down her chin.  
  
" I'm so sorry..." Repeated Zack, not knowing what to do.  
  
"Here Boo, put that on your lip, and I'll go look for that daughter of yours. If that Grandma sees you like this, she'll end up having Post  
Traumatic Stress Disorder!" She gave Bella a wet towel, and stared at Zack. "Men...they're always there to remind me how dumb they can  
be!" And she went to Mrs.Moreno to bring Sophie back.  
  
Everybody was staring at Zack, and Bling decided that the guy had had enough for the night, so he broke the ice first.  
  
"Logan, I'm gonna go now, since all seems fine. You got enough people crashing here."  
  
"I don't mind." Well, not too often, but tonight's an exeption.  
  
"I'll see you tomorrow."  
  
"Bye Bling, and thanks." For everything.  
  
"Sure, for you or Max, anytime." And he got out. Logan went to talk to Brin, wanting to know what her plans were.  
  
Bella sat on the couch, pressing the towel on her lips to stop the bleeding, and to stop herself from wanting to laugh. She glanced at Zack, who wasn't   
sure if he could approach her, standing up there, feeling awkward. She wanted to laugh just be the look of his face, she could see he wanted to kill himself  
for having done it, and teasing him was just too funny for her. 'Stop playing with him Bella, she told herself, the poor guy's really feeling bad for what he did!'  
She looked at him and made a place on the couch for him to sit next to her.  
  
"Come here." She said to Zack, who sat reluctantly. She stared at him and started to laugh. He looked at her as if she had lost her mind. "Do you see your face right  
now?, she asked him between laughs, It's worth a million!" She calmed herself after a few seconds. "Look Zack, I know you didn't do it on purpose! Don't sweat it, okay?"  
  
"Okay." He replied to her. She stared at him and saw he was nervous. 'Am I making him uncomfortable?' Bella fixed him the same way she used to look at Logan when   
they were kids, and Zack got worst.  
  
"What?" He saked Bella. 'Wouah...he likes me!', she suddenly realized. Zack stared at her intensively, without blinking, trying to figure out what she was thinking, but his  
mind wasn't making any connections at the moment. The poor guy was always attracted to the wrong women. Stubborness and determination in a woman was what he liked in   
Max, and now in Bella.   
  
"Maybe in another life time Zack." Said Bella to the guy, before standing up to take her daughter in her arms, thinking that she kinds of like him too.  
  
  
  
  



	34. Weaknesses

  
Max got out of the room to go to the bathroom, she wanted to shower before going to bed. She felt like the Manticore smell was all over her and it  
made her want to puke. Logan and Bella were talking to each other in the kitchen, and Brin was asleep on the couch in the living room. Original  
Cindy had left a while ago.  
  
"I'm gonna shower if you don't mind." She said to Logan.  
  
"Of course not." He said back, staring at her with concern because she didn't seem very confident with her walk. Logan glanced at  
Bella, and made her a head sign.  
  
"Do you need some help Max?" She asked her, just before Max's legs couldn't hold her anymore and fell down, facing the floor. Bella  
jumped on her feet and went to help Max, who was hysterically laughing. "Are you okay?" Asked Bella, smiling at Max, who couldn't stop  
herself from laughing.  
  
" I'm fine," She said between laughs, "I just lost my strength for a sec." She stood up holding on to Isabella. "Maybe  
you should come with me." She said to her.  
  
"Sure." The two woman got into the bathroom.  
  
Logan went near the window and looked outside, thinking about things he didn't really want to face, but couldn't NOT face them tomorrow, after  
everything that happened today. 'Zack's been right all along.' He thought.  
  
*******  
  
Lydecker was standing up in front of his superior, with all his men behind him. She had asked to see all of them 'right away' when she heard what has  
been going on here tonight.  
  
" As I can see Lydecker, you've failed me, AGAIN." She said to him, not in a very good mood. "We did not just lost the new girl, but  
we lost Brin too." She walked near him, staring at him right into his eyes. "And YOU lied to ME. Big mistake Deck. Big big mistake! There  
are people here that saw Zack, who was SUPPOSED to be DEAD? If I recall right? But maybe, MAYBE, I didn't read RIGHT in your report. Huh?"  
She was furious, but calm anyway. That was what frightened him the most. Her calmness. But he didn't say anything back, he knew that there was no  
answer that could satisfy the Lady at the moment. "Do you know what's really pissing me off Deck? After all those years, you never once  
succeeded to the damn mission of finding those X5, not ONCE did it go right! Not once! Everytime something came up, and every damn time we lost  
them!" Now she was talking louder. She stoped right in front of him, calmed herself, and smiled at him. "Now, can you tell me why I  
shouldn't kill you?"  
  
"There is absolutely nothing I could say to defend myself, M'mam, that will change what you already know you'll do with me." He  
answered her.  
  
"What a smarta$$ you think you are Lydecker!" She took the gun from a soldier that was behind him. "Why do I keep spending my time  
with such morons? Not ONE of you were able to stop them? Not one!" She yelled in disbelief. "Even if I had let you go after them, you  
wouldn't have succeeded, because you never DID!" She went in front of Lydecker and put the gun to his face, and pulled the trigger without  
moving an inch. She even smiled at him. Lydecker fell down, dead. She looked at all of them, defying anyone to to say a word. "Now, I'm the  
ONLY one in charge as of today, and I AM going to take them BACK! All of them, one by one, it that clear for everybody?" She took a pause,  
looking at those soldiers who were standing strait in front of her, and saw a woman in the back. "You, the woman, come over here." Sera  
began to walk near her, afraid to end up like her uncle. 'God I'm glad I took my mother's name, she thought, because right now, having Lydecker  
written on my badge would give me a bullet in the head.' She stoped in front of her.  
  
"Yes Madam?" She looked at Sera and read her name.  
  
"Dr. Sera Dwain." She said looking at her in the eyes. "Maybe a woman will be smarter than a man, since it seems that I've  
been working with morons!" She said the last part staring at the crowd of soldiers who weren't moving until she told them to. "Can you  
tell me what happen Dr. Dwain?" Sera took a deep breath.  
  
" I can tell you what I SAW, but as for the rest, I don't know."  
  
"Fair enough." Said she. "I can't expect from you to know everything since you're not a soldier, but a doctor. Now spill it!"  
  
"Lydecker came to me towards midnight, telling me that Max and Brin were trying to get out of here, and that Zack was there helping them. I  
was very surprised to hear him talk of Zack, since I thought he was dead, well, we all thought he was." She took a pause, her mouth was the  
Sahara Desert. "So I came down with him, and there was Brin, Zack, Max and another girl I've never seen before. They started fighting, and  
Lydecker ordered his men to neutralized them, but Zack was able to took the weapon off Lydecker's hand, and then Brin knocked me unconscious. I  
can't tell you more." She stared at her without blinking, knowing that if she blinked, the woman was going to be suspicious. 'Always tell  
the truth or a lie without blinking!' Sera remembered her uncle telling her, when she was younger. 'People who blinks are always suspected to  
lie.'  
  
"Okay, so you all go to your respective assignment, and I'll see what I can do with those dumba$$ soldiers of mine. As for you Doctor, you can  
go back to your work." Sera turned around and got out of the room as fast as she could. 'I gotta get the hell away from here!'  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	35. Hearts & Souls

  
  
After a few hours of thinking, I decided to post it, I wasn't sure if it was a good thing or not, but after a good analysis, I came to the  
conclusion that I wanted to post it! lol! So, for those who likes shippyness, welcome here! As for the others (the non-shippers), well, I  
didn't write a parallele part where you can roll the dice and go to whatever part the numbers tell you to...lol! Sorry.  
And btw, Dvorak's World Symphony is the music in the movie JAWS, you know?  
*****************************  
  
  
It was about 3:00 in the morning when Logan got into his bedroom. Max was awake, her head resting on the pillow, holding on to it like it was about  
to run away. Logan didn't really know if he should go next to her, or just live her alone. She looked much better, her cheeks weren't as white as  
they were before, and since the drug was for the most part eliminated by the Narcan Bella gave her, she had gain her strength back. Not all of  
it, but she was alraight.  
Max moved on the right space of the bed to make him a place. He sat besides her and took her in his arms.  
  
"I was so scared." He told her genuinely.  
  
"I know." Max said back, and then started to cry. She cried like she'd never cried before. She cried for Eva, for her mom, for what might  
be the truth about her father's identity, and she cried for tomorrow. She didn't want to talk about it right now, but she just had to let the  
emotions get out before she exploded.  
  
Logan didn't say a word, and he just let her cry as long as she needed to. He knew there probably were things that she lived at Manticore back then,  
that she sort of relived today, and it was okay with him that she wasn't feeling like sharing them with him. 'I'm not sure I'd want to know all  
those horrible things that happened to her. It would freak me out to much.' He only hold her in his arms very tight, and it was more than Max  
ever had before. 'She can't live through this again', he told himself. Logan could hear Zack telling him: 'If you care so much about her you'd  
let her go.' Tomorrow was going to be tough. 'She can't stay here, it's too damn dangerous now.' He was holding Max close to him now, and he had  
been waiting for this for months, and now that it was happening, he had to let her go. Logan closed his eyes, wanting to just feel the moment.  
  
Max had stoped crying a moment ago, but he was too deep into his thoughts to even acknoledge it. She wasn't making any noise, she stood there,  
watching him in silence, knowing perfectly what he was thinking by the look of his face. He opened his eyes and faced her, seeing she wasn't  
crying anymore. 'I'll miss her so much!'  
  
"Max, we have to talk about this..." He said to her in an attempt to sound strong.  
  
" Please Logan...not now." She didn't want to face the facts of tomorrow. "Lets take care of tomorrow when tomorrow will come, as for  
now, well now is still today." She sadly smiled.  
  
"Max, you have to be mature about this." He said to her, almost in despair.  
  
"I promess you I'll be mature about it tomorrow."  
  
"But..." Max put a hand over his mouth.  
  
"No buts." She replaced her hand by her lips, wanting to feel him close to her more than ever. It didn't take long for the guy to answer  
her kiss, so she just put herself on top of him, pushing her lips further more on his. Max placed her hands on each side of his waist and began  
pulling up his sweater over his head, touching his warm soft skin under her fingers. Logan held her close to him, almost afraid she would vanish  
away from him, but Max left his lips to kiss his neck, and after his chest, and then she got her lips lower, and lower, and began to unzip his  
pants. His heart was going a thousand mile an hour and he wanted to kill himself for what he was about to say.  
  
"Max...it's really not that I don't want to...but...I can't." Max knew what he meant since he was paralysed below the belt.  
  
"It doesn't matter to me Logan." She softly said to him, staring into his eyes. "I just want to feel your soul who's within your  
body." For some reason this seemed to please him more than whatever else she could have said to him. He sat in the bed and just took her in  
his arms, now wanting her more than he had never wanted anyone that bad in his life, and kissed her passionately. Accepting the fact that he couldn't  
make love to her was hard for him, but he decided to not let it ruin what they had right now...and of course he knew there wasn't only one way to  
please a woman.  
  
Max took off his pants and his socks too. 'Don't you just hate it when guys keep their socks?!'. She got back to his lips walking like a cat on  
the bed, in a very sensuous way, which made Logan shiver all throughout his body. His hands went to her waist and he moved his fingers up her  
spine, taking her shirt with him, and thinking how delightful she smelled, and how soft her skin was. 'I've been washing myself with that soap for  
years and never did my skin seem that soft.' Max's shirt flew somewhere in the room, and they both let themselves feel whatever took possession of  
their hearts and souls, surrendering to the desire that has been burning inside of them for all those months, dreaming of this moment.  
The breating was becoming hard to hide and they were just making music with it. Max's pants flew next to her shirt, and she stared at Logan,  
wearing only her panties and her bra.  
  
"You're so beautiful Max." He said smiling at her with so much emotion. She couldn't take her eyes off his lips.  
  
" I SO love your lips." She whispered to him, pressing her almost naked body against his, her flesh burning up by the contact of his  
touch, feeling every inch of his skin. Logan's hand caressed her waist and her spine, and went to untie her bra,  
removing the straps from Max's shoulders, and throwing it away with the other flying clothes.  
They just couldn't get enough of each other, touching everything that could be touched, tasting everything that could be tasted, making Dvorak's  
World Symphony music with their breaths, getting hungrier as the time went by.  
  
Logan was able to turn Max under him without any problem. He stared at her so seriously that she didn't dare to talk. He kissed her lips, went down  
her neck, and her breasts without forgetting her waist and tummy. And especially without passing by her most sensitive skin, teasing it with his  
tongue. He could feel Max was really enjoying this and it pleased him. She wasn't trying to control her body anymore, she just let him control it.  
  
"Logan..." Max said between breaths, feeling how much this was exquisite, and being VERY aware of all her body's reaction to his touch.  
He didn't stoped until Max's body climaxed to his great satisfaction. She stared at the ceiling, getting her thoughts togheter.  
"Come here!" She said to Logan, smiling, and wanting to feel him near her. They were both catching their breath, and he laid himself next  
to her, kissing her, kissing her forehead. She grabed his head and kissed him on the mouth, not caring about where those lips of his were before. Max   
stared at him, thinking how the hell was she going to live away from that man.  
  
"I love you Logan." She simply said, staring into his eyes. She couldn't believe how easy it has been to just say it, she didn't even had thought of  
saying it before it came out of her mouth. Maybe the fact that he was looking at her with so much love had helped, knowing she wasn't about to be  
rejected. She stared at him, waiting for some kind of reaction, but Logan wasn't speaking, he was still absorbing what Max had told him. He took a   
sip of water from his glass that was just next to him on the night table, overwhelmed by the past hour. He saw that Max began to feel uncomfortable  
by his silence, and that a tear was forming itself on the corner of her eyes. He was so happy, and it was like there was no connections between his   
brain and his mouth anymore. He gently touched Max's face before being able to find his speaking function again, and wiped away the tear.  
  
"I am so totally, completely, in love with you Max." Logan said to her, confused between laughing from happiness or crying from sadness, because of  
what tomorrow will bring to them.  
  
Hearing those words were hitting Max like a punching bag, but a good one. It was the first time somebody actually loved her, her, not some girl. Her,  
knowing all about her past. She was so happy right now, and it broke her heart. She didn't want to think about tomorrow...well, about later today.   
She just wanted this moment to be theirs, and enjoy the warm feeling of being in the arms of the man you love. 'Wow, this is what love is?' Max   
thought. 'I could get used to it.'  
  
"Say it again." She asked him, in a teasing voice. He looked at her the same way.  
  
"I Logan, love you Max, with all my heart and soul, for tonight and the rest of my life." And then he reached for her lips.  
  
'Music to my ears.' Max thought.  
  
*****************************************  
Hehehe, was THAT shippy or what?!  
Give me reviews!!  
BTW, I'm not done yet! Don't you go think it's the last post! lol! Cuz it's not!   
  
Juliette  



	36. Beautiful Goodbye

For those you send me e-mail about my English spelling, I just want to tell you that English isn't my first language, and that I'm trying very hard to not   
let too many errors. She is the first story I write in English, ever, so thank you, I know you mean well, but it's a dead end for me, since I never learned   
the grammar rules of the english language. And it's complicated too! lol! But thanks for your understanding, and I hope it's readable.  
***********************************************  
  
Max looked at the clock on the night table. 8:00 AM. She saw that Logan wasn't sleeping, in fact, he's been staring at her for almost an hour,  
trying to imbue all details of her face in his mind, to be sure to be able to remember her perfectly.  
  
"Hiya!" 'His voice is sofly charming this morning,' Max thought. He smiled at her.  
  
" Good morning!" She left her pillow to gently kiss him, giggling over the 'good morning' mention she never thought she would say  
to him one day. Well, she had thought about it, but she was practically sure it would never happen.  
  
"So." Logan reluctantly said, loosing his beautiful smile.  
  
"Yeah, so." She repeated, now loosing her good mood with reality steppin again on her happiness. "I should do it, you think?" She  
asked him, taking a breath of defeat.  
  
"You can't stay here in Seattle anymore Max. You gotta go." His voice was amazingly serious.  
  
" Do you WANT me to leave?" She asked him, like a child would ask his mother if he really has to go to the dentist. "If you WANT me  
to go, then I'll go."  
  
"Do I WANT you to GO? Hell NO!" He answered her in disbelief. "Are you nuts this morning Max?" He asked her, facing her and  
looking straight into her eyes. "I *don't* WANT you to go! But you HAVE to leave Max. I'm telling you sincerely that within all the choices I  
had to make in my life, this is by far the hardest, but I'd rather know you'll be safe and sound somewhere far away from here, than dead or  
something in Seattle." He took a pause to collect his thoughts. "I REALLY don't want to learn one day that you got shot, or that  
you're back at Manticore and that they reprogrammed you into a soldier. THAT would be the WORST thing ever." He softly said to her, caressing  
her hair with his hand.  
  
" I don't want to sound childish Logan, but I don't want to go. I don't want to leave you, not now and not anytime soon." She hold him  
tight while resting her head on his chest, softly caressing his skin.  
  
"I'd rather have you here with me, holding you near me, and never let you go...so to speak, he said smiling at her over his last words, you know  
that Max, I just got you in my life, but..."  
  
"There goes the 'but' again!" She said ironically, rooling her eyes up to the ceiling.  
  
" You know that you can't put aside the 'but' this time Max." Logan looked into Max's eyes, who smiled at him.  
  
"Didn't seem to mind it last night, even quite enjoyed it I might add." Max said to him in a teasing voice.  
  
"Didn't heard you complaining either." He replied, playing along. She provocatively smiled at him and reached his lips.  
  
"You should have an award, an Oscar or whatever, for your perfect act of yesterday." They started laughing and after a few laughs, they got  
quiet, holding on to each other. "Can you get us passports and fake IDs?" Max asked him, breaking the ice with that dreadful question.  
Logan closed his eyes, realizing that it was going to happen, she was leaving, and he also knew who the US were. It was Zack, Brin and her.  
  
"Sure, I talked to Brin yesterday, and I already made arrangements for her and Zack, so one more wont be a problem." She made an OK sign  
with her head, unable to talk. "They're going to Canada, but 'that' you already knew..." Logan shut up, not knowing what to say anymore,  
both of them was trying to shield themselves from the pain it was causing them.  
  
"Then you should take care of it the sooner the better. I'll go make breakfast...well, coffee." Max told Logan, lacking all sorts of  
emotions.  
They got out of bed without talking, nor looking at each other, afraid to say anything that could jeopardize the events of the day. Max got out of  
the room before Logan, and she closed the door behind her, walking in the direction of the kitchen, she was already smelling the coffee.  
'Hmmm...coffee.' That was almost ecstasy to her smelling sense.  
  
"Hello Max!" Said a very joyful Bella to her.  
  
"Hey Bella, you made coffee?...Your my hero!" Said Max to her, smiling and pooring coffee into a cup. "I LOOOOVE coffee." Max  
added cheefully, trying to clear her mind of unpleasant thoughts.  
  
"So?", asked Bella in such a funny voice that Max stared at her, "Did you sleep well last night?" Max blanked stared at a smiling  
Bella winking at her. Max's eyes went wide open and she almost choked over her sip of coffee.  
  
"Nooooo?" She asked Bella, highly embarrassed. "You didn't...did you?" O-H M-Y G-O-D...  
  
"Oh! Yes...I did!...And it sounded quite entertaining!" Bella added, smiling at Max.  
  
"I'm so sorry...I didn't think...we didn't know...I...he..." Max just stoped stuttering and sat on a kitchen chair, nervously laughing.  
"Hmmm, who was HERE for the night?" 'Please not Bling, Zack and everyone else!'  
  
"Bling went to his place, and Zack went, well, whatever the place he went to, he was there." Bella was enjoying herself very much. She  
liked to tease people, and mostly those involved with her dear cousin. "So it was just Brin and me." She tried to get serious, but  
wasn't highly successful. "Oh! yeah, we heard everything...we even got popcorn!" To this one, Bella couldn't resist but laughed out  
loud. Max got her head on the table and hide it with her arms.  
  
" Oh! Your SO mean Bella!" Said Max, hysterically laughing.  
  
"Look Max, it's no big deal, we're all adults here, I just thought it would be funny to tease you a little, because I can't tease my lovely  
cousin with this anymore."  
  
"But still." Max said, standing up and walking towards her. "I'm not used to share my private life with people." She sat on  
the couch, looking at Sophie playing with her toys on the floor. "Thank you for yesterday, it meant a lot for me."  
  
"No problem Max, you know, I think you're what Logan needed in his life, I should be the one thanking you." Bella truthfully smiled at  
Max.  
  
"Well, after what happened yesterday, we decided I should get out of town today, so I wont be around here anymore." Max went into another  
planet.  
  
"Earth to Max..." Max stared at Bella.  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"You love him don't you?" Bella asked her, not knowing if she should.  
  
"Very much so." Max told her, taking a sip of coffee.  
  
"He loves you too you know, I'm telling you in case his male ego didn't." Max laughed at Bella. 'She sure knows the guy!'  
  
"I know Bella, it looks like he got over his male ego." Max smiled at herself, thinking about Logan. Bella studied her face, and understood   
how complicated her life was, and what they will have to face today. She was sad for Logan too, who had found this gorgeous woman, whom he deeply fell in  
love with, and who's accepting him just the way he is. And now, he has to let her go. 'Damn!', thought Bella, feeling strongly for both of them. She had   
always believed in *true Love* and *soul mates*, and Bella could see those two were. 'Life stinks!', she said to herself, wanting to do more for them.  
  
"I'm deeply sorry, for both of you. I know it must be hard to let go."  
  
"I sort of knew this was gonna happen one day." Just didn't think it would come that fast!  
  
Logan got out of the bedroom, and went directly to his computer, to take care of the passports and IDs. He stayed there for about 15 minutes, and then wheeled   
himself to the kitchen, silently. Max and Bella stared at each other and Bella made a slight smile to her. 'Give him a few minutes and he'll be fine.' She wispered   
to Max.  
  
"Hello Boo!" Max said to Sophie, changing the subject. "I'm glad you didn't leave yesterday, that way I'll be able to say a proper 'goodbye' to my girl!" Max kissed   
her on the cheeks, and Sophie laughed.  
  
"She likes you." Bella said, playing with her daughter.  
  
"I like her too, she's my other Boo...the first one being Original Cindy of course!"  
  
"And what am I?" Asked Logan, trying to spend his last moment he had with Max cheefully, instead of otherwise. Max turned her head toward him. They smiled to each   
others, and Logan sat on the counter to poor himself some coffee and to take a cereal box. Max walked near him and wispered to him "my heart" and then put herself  
in his arms. Logan hold her and they kissed each other tenderly.  
  
**************************  
  
The IDs arrived at 2:00 PM, and Brin came back with Zack. Everybody was there, even Original Cindy and Kendra, whom Max had called earlier to come here. She explained to them  
why she had to leave in the simplest manner. It was hard for everybody.  
  
"I'll miss you terribly Boo." Said Original Cindy, giving Max a big hug. "Lokk what you do to me!", she said smiling at Max, wiping away a tear.  
  
"I'll miss you too." And then came the turn of Kendra.  
  
"Take care of yourself Max." She kissed her on the cheeks.  
  
"I will Kendra." Max couldn't hold her tears anymore. "I'll miss my two girls so much!" The three of them hugged each others very hard, and then Max spoke. "You two take care of   
my boy for me?"  
  
"Promess." They said to Max.   
  
Brin and Zack were already packing up the elevator to put some bags in the bus. Bella went to help them, even if there wasn't much, and she gave a sign to Original Cindy, sort of  
telling her it was time for 'them' to say their 'goodbyes'.  
  
"Boo, we'll go now because Original Cindy hates to say goodbye." And she took Kendra with her, pulling her by the vest. "Come on Sugar, time to leave." Kendra almost didn't have   
the time to say 'bye!' that the door was already closed behind her.  
  
Max laughed at them, knowing perfectly why they were leaving that fast. She turned around and faced Logan, who was sitting on the kitchen table, trying to look cool and strong. They   
stared at each other, wanting to say something, but not knowing what. Both of their eyes looked red, and both of them were overwhelmed by the emotions going in and out of their bodies.   
Max's lips pouted and she bit them, forcing herself to hold the tears that were falling down her face.  
  
"I just can't seem to be able to stop crying!" She said in a crying-laughing kind of way,   
while walking near him.   
  
"Yeah, does that sometimes. Once the flow is open, it can't stop." He replied sadly, wrapping Max   
in his arms.  
They stayed there, holding on to each others tightly, no one wanting to let the other go, both   
trying not to let the other see their emotions, but it wasn't much of a succeess.   
After what seemed like an eternity, Max talked.  
  
"I have to go now Logan." He loosen up his grip a little, and then took her face in his hands.  
  
"Okay." He finaly said, putting his hands on the side of the table, staring at each other  
again. "Goodbye Max." He soflt said to her, bitting his lip, hard.  
  
"Goodbye Logan...don't forget me too soon." She said, managing a poor smile.  
  
"Never in my life." Logan said, putting his hands on her waist and pulling his lips over hers.   
  
They kissed themselves with everything they had within each others, like you'd do if you were kissing the love of your life for the last time.   
Max pushed him away, thinking it was now or never, turned her back on him and walked away in silence, feeling the pain in her heart each time she put a foot in front of the other, and   
closed the door behind her.  
  
Logan fixed the back of the door, aware of the emptiness of the appartment, of his life, and feeling like he had just recieved a bullet in the chest.  
  
************************************************  
Please give me reviews...even if this one was sad...a little.  
  
J  
  
  



	37. I try

  
  
This part will be longer than the usual. Be prepared! lol!  
And I want to thank you, readers, for liking my story! It means a lot!  
***  
  
"Games, changes and fears/when will they go from here?/when will they stop?/I believe that fate has brought us here/and we could be togheter/but  
we're not/I play it off but I'm dreaming of you/I'll keep my cool but I'm fiendin/I try to say goodbye and I choke/I try to walk away and I  
stumble/though I try to hide it, it's clear/my world crumbles when you are not near/here is my confession/may I be your possession?/boy I need your  
touch/your love kisses and such/with all my might I try/but this I can't deny/deny. (Macy Gray "I try").  
  
*********************  
  
Zack, Brin and Max separate themselves in Ontario. Brin decided to go to Vancouvert, Zack to New-Brunswick, and Max decided to stay there, as long  
as it was fine. Zack didn't want them to stay togheter, saying that it could jeopardize one of them if they got caught. "If one of us get  
caught, we all get caught. It's better to go our separate ways." Zack had said.  
  
While they were on the bus, nobody talked, everyone deep into their own thoughts. Brin was thinking how happy she was to finaly be out of that  
Manticore Hell Hole. That's the only thing she was thinking about.  
  
Zack, on the other hand, was looking outside the window, thinking about Bella. Just before Max got out of Logan's appartment, he'd wanted to go  
looking for her, saying to the others she was taking too much time, but Bella stoped him in front of the elevator.  
"No Zack, let them alone." She told him, gripping his leather jacket by the sleeve. "You still have plenty of time to get to the  
bus station."  
"Fine." He had said to her, looking at those blue eyes, imploring him to let go. Zack had put his hand in front of him, to shake  
hers, saying: "Goodbye then Isabella." She laughed over the formal way of him to say goodbye, and then she shaked his hand.  
"Bye Zack, it was nice meeting you." And she kissed him on the cheek. He remembered how gentle it has been, and how he just turned his  
head to press his lips over hers. He'd thought she was going to kick his butt, she she didn't to his surprise. She let him kiss her, and she even  
responded to it. He knew he didn't love her, but he was attracted to her. She had broken the kiss, telling him he shouldn't have done it, and then  
she told him to go, and he left. 'She's a hell of a girl.' He thought.  
  
  
Max was sitting still in her seat, trying hard not to let her emotions win over her. She closed her eyes, thinking that seeing the trees goes by was  
reminding her of how many of them were behind, from her to Seattle. 'I never thought it would be THAT hard.' She swallowed the big ball of tears  
that was raising in her throat.  
  
The first weeks had been rough, but she managed to occupy herself with work. It didn't took her long to get a job, it was easier here than in  
Seattle. She was now selling theatre tickets, but resting on her butt all day wasn't really something she liked to do. One day she woke up, packed  
her bags, never showed up for work, and took off to Montréal. When she got there, she felt safe. 'I wonder if Lydecker will think of coming here to  
look for me.' Of course, Max wasn't aware of the fact that Lydecker was dead, but that didn't mattered, they were still looking for her. And she  
also prefered to not think of him at all. 'He's not my father anyway.' She said to herself. 'I can't come from a scum bag like this.' Anything she  
could find was good. 'Sc*ew him!'  
  
When she first got in Montréal, she booked herself a room in an hotel on Sherbroke's street. Logan had given her some money, even if she first  
declined it, he told her that she didn't know what to expect, and that she should take it, so she did. The morning after, she got out of her room,  
and went to the front desk.  
  
"Bonjour Mademoiselle, que puis-je faire pour vous?" The guy asked her if he could help her with something.  
  
"Bonjour, je voudrais savoir où je peux trouver un journal?" Max asked him in a prefect french where she could buy news papers. She had  
learned French, Spanish, German, and Russian at Manticore. 'A good soldier has to know how to talk to his opponents!' Lydecker used to say. The guy  
told her there was a place just next to the hotel.  
  
"Merci." She got out of the hotel, it was cold outside and there was snow everywhere. In march, you couldn't expect any less in Québec. She  
smiled and went to buy 'Le journal de Montréal' and 'The Gazette'. She walked until she found a Second Cup's coffee shop. 'Coffee...' She  
thought, it wasn't hard to know she wanted one. She saw the *EMPLOYEE NEEDED* card and decided to take a chance. She opened the door.  
'Hmmm...the good smell of real coffee!' The place was empty, maybe it was because it was 6:00 in the morning. Max saw the girl behind the counter  
and walked towards her. She was about Max's age, probable more though, had blond hair, blue eyes, and was cursing at the book in front of her. Max  
smiled.  
  
"Hi!" Said the girl in a desperate tone, smiling at Max. "I'm trying to study for my test tomorrow, and my brain just seems to  
bail on me!" She rolled her eyes to the ceiling and closed the book. "What can I get you?" She asked.  
  
"A cappuccino would be fabulous." Max said. "And I'll take a chocolate chips muffin too." She said to the girl. "How did  
you know I talked English?" Max asked out of curiosity.  
  
"You have 'The Gazette' news paper in your hand, and it's english written, so I figured." She said, smiling.  
  
"Right." Max fixed the news paper and took a breath. 'Relax.'  
  
"You're not from here, huh? Most of people here talk both english and french, but there's a lot of spanish too, depends of where you live. Do  
you need a pen?" She didn't even waited for Max to answer that she was already giving one to her.  
  
"Thanks." Max went to sit near the window. 'I hope it wont be too damn hard to find a place to crash!' She opened the news paper and  
looked around. 'Damn! I'll need a freakin map to know where all those places are!' The girl walked towards Max.  
  
"Looking for a place to stay?" She asked when she saw Max surronding the addresses. Max stared at her.  
  
"Yeah, why?" She saw the name tag on the girl's shirt.  
'Vitoney.'  
  
"Look, said Vitoney to Max, I don't want to impose, but my roommate took off with her boyfriend 2 weeks ago, and I didn't find anybody  
yet." She said to Max. "All the people I interviewed were scary...if you know what I mean!" She made a weird face and started  
to laugh. "It's a nice place, 4 1/2, and it's not far away. I walk to come here, and the metro is just 5 minutes away." Max thought about  
this for a minute. 'The girl seems nice. Anyway, I don't know anyone here, and I can't pay a whole place alone.'  
  
"What are you asking for a month?" Max asked her.  
  
"About 150$ a month, plus the food. One week I do the groceries, and the other week it's you. I don't really like the 'this food is mine don't  
touch it!' thing, so I prefer sharing."  
  
"Hmmm, sounds interresting, but I don't have a job yet. I was hoping to see the manager today, but there's only you here. Do you know if they   
found someone for the job?" She asked Vitoney, showing her the card in the window.  
  
"Oh! no...he didn't find anyone yet. But it's been a while I'm here, and he makes me do the interviews to hire people. I'll put a good word on you  
and he'll listened to me. You can be sure about 99% the job is yours." Vitoney smiled at Max, who was amazed how this girl in front of her remembered her  
of Logan with her kindness.  
  
"Why would you do that? You don't even know me!"  
  
"I don't know." Vitoney shrugged one's shoulders. "By the way, my name is Vitoney Brown."  
  
"I'm..." Max suddenly remembered the name Logan had given her on her new ID. "I'm Maya Perkins." And Max shooked Vitoney's hand.  
  
"I'm working until 4:00, just meet me here."  
  
It has been 6 months now that Max was in Montréal, but it's been 9 months since she'd left Seattle. She was working at the Second Cup coffee shop and  
it was going good, she was doing mostly the night shifts, but since nobody wanted to do them, it was fine with her. She was working with Vitoney on Fridays   
and Saturdays, and they were going along just fine. Vitoney's been raised on a military base in Valcartier(Québec) with her father, her mom died while  
giving birth, and now she was in Montréal, at the McGill University, studying Nursing. She had a strong personality and Max liked it. They learned to live   
with each other, and Vitoney learned not to ask too much questions about Max's personal life. Many times she got into the apartment without Max knowing it,  
because she was fixing an empty space, and by the look on Max's face, she knew it wasn't the right time to ask what was going on. 'A guy surely.' Vitoney  
said to herself. 'What else?' She took her books and went into her room.  
  
One night at the Second Cup, they had a robbery. The two guys came in, one with a gun and the other with a really big knife. There was Vitoney and Max plus   
a few people siping their coffee, but who stoped siping when they saw the two morons.  
  
"Maya, I think we've got visitors..." Said Vitoney to her, seeing them first. Max was pooring coffee to a customer, when she turned her head and saw them.   
They were behaving like 2 school boys, yelling from anything to anything.  
  
"You must be kidding me!" Max said while putting the coffee mug on the table.  
  
"Any of you fucking bitch move, and I'll execute every mother fucking last one of ya!" The gun guy yelled at them. Max stared at him.  
  
"I'm sooo scared!" She said to the guy, who looked so stone he had trouble holding on to the gun. "What's your problem? You can't even make a line of your  
own, you have to pick one from an old movie?" In a flash, Max kicked the guy right on the hand, he droped the gun, she took it and disarmed it. The one holding  
knife stared at her and didn't have the time to move that she was already punching him, being now the one holding the knife.  
  
"You get the hell away from here before I call the police!" Max yelled at them. 'I can't call the damn police, she thought, because I can't have my name   
printing anywhere in the justice department right now.' The two guys took off, and she returned to the table to poor some coffee. Everybody was staring at her,   
not talking.  
  
"What?" Max said defensively. "You never heard of self-defense classes?" Vitoney came near Max.  
  
"I took self-defense classes Maya, and I didn't have the time to react that they were both gone." And she walked away, not asking anything else, and she never talked about it afterwards.  
  
A few weeks later, Max realized it was november 10th. "Tomorrow is Logan's birthday." She took a cup of coffee and sat on the couch, facing the pale yellow walls of the living room.  
  
"Who's Logan?" Vitoney asked. Max jumped on the couch, acknowledging she'd said it out loud.  
  
"A friend." Max simply said.  
  
" A friend?" Said Vitoney back, sarcastically. "Really Maya, just 'a friend' ?" Max sat still on the couch, thinking she could probably talk to her about him, without telling everything.  
  
"He's a friend from my past, and tomorrow is his birthday." Max said.  
  
"From your secret past you never talk about?" Vitoney asked, happy to learn a bit more about her roommate's life.  
  
"It's complicated Vitoney, and I prefer not to think about it because it hurts too much." She took her cup of coffee and sat besides Max.  
  
"Look Maya, I don't know what happened to you, and frankly, it's not my buisness. I don't think you killed someone, but if you did, well, I can't do anything about it, can I? You probably  
had your reasons because you seem like a nice girl. So, why don't you go see him for his birthday?" Max lightly smiled.  
  
"I can't." She said, not looking at her.  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Because if I see him I wont be able to leave again." She answered her roommate, truthfully. "It was so hard, I don't want to do it again."  
  
" I understand Maya, but it's so obvious you're dying to see him, and it could do you good to see him. You're not over him Maya, you're always sad and deep into thoughts. I think you should go."  
She paused and added. "I could do your shifts at work if you want to go."   
  
"I miss him tremendously." Max said back to Vitoney.  
  
" I'm sure he misses you too." Vitoney stared at Max, thinking that it shouldn't take long for her to decide herself to go, since she seemed to have a smile on her face.  
  
Max looked at her roommate and hugged her. She went to her room, packed some bags and ran to the bus station. Her heart was pounding like it would get out of her chest, she wanted to see him so bad,   
to make sure he was alright. 'Just 2 days and I come back.' Maybe she wasn't going to see him face to face and just take a peek from outside, she wasn't sure yet. Plus, she missed Original Cindy and Kendra  
and it would be great to see them again. Once on the bus, she began to feel scared. 'What if there's someone else in his life?'  
  
She arrived in Seattle at 3:00.  
She wasn't sure where to go first. Was it better to go to Logan's first, or go see Original Cindy to ask her if there was something new in Logan's life she should know?  
Max decided to go to Logan's. She got in through the window, looking for some kind of life, but there was no one. She felt strange, like she didn't know if she was relieved or happy about it. The place   
didn't change much, there was a few paintings she'd never seen before, and the computer room had some new gadget. She smiled while looking. She glanced around, feeling like she was there just hours ago   
instead of months. Max could feel his presence so near her, but yet, she was alone in the apartment. 'Oh god, it's too much, I'm gonna cry again!' She sat on the couch and saw the blue sweater she   
liked so much besides her. She took it in her hands. "Oh Logan..." She said out loud, putting her face in it to remember his sent. She smiled. She stood up and went to the kitchen, and she saw a bottle of wine   
with two glasses on the counter, one had lipstick on it. Her heart missed a beat. 'Oh! no...' She knew she didn't have the right to ask him not to have a life anymore, but it got through her like a knife.  
She went to the bathroom to splash some water in her face and she saw beaty products on the sink. She felt herself on the edge to puke. 'I have to get the hell away from here!' She ran to the living room  
and then started seizing. 'Damn! It's been a while and it has to happen now!' She got to her bag and took the pills, Max fell on the floor, seizing badly, and the bottle opened widely, spreading the pills everywhere   
on the floor. 'Damn it!' She took 3 pills and stood there, waiting for the Tryptophan to dissolves itself and be absorbed in her blood to make the seizing fade. She stood there for about an hour, and then  
the seizing went away, but she was tired, and it was hard just to pick the pills and put them back in the bottle. Max looked around, making sure there wasn't any left, and got out of Logan's place as fast as she could.  
  
She knocked on her old apartment's door, and when Original Cindy opened the door, she yelled at Max, smiling by the surprise.  
  
"Boo! Why didn't you tell me you were coming here!?" She hugged Max letting her no place for breathing. "I'm so happy to see you!" She was speaking to Max 'on and on' on how happy she was to see her, and   
it's only after a few minutes that she saw Max was crying." Original Cindy's face drop dead.  
  
"What's wrong Boo?"  
  
Max told her what had just happened.  
"I knew it could happen, but I hoped...I was living in denial I guess! I knew I couldn't ask him to spend his life alone, but...still...it hurts so bad." Original Cindy hold her in her arms.  
  
"Look Sugar, Original Cindy didn't know there was a bitch there. I came to think of him as a reasonable guy but now, I think there's some wire crossed in his head of his!" She tried to soothe Max during a long time.   
'She came back for him, and that's what she's getting? I'm gonna kill that stupid man!" Original Cindy told herself.  
  
*************************************  
  
Please don't be a silent reader, it's the worst of all.  
Anna 


	38. Fear

Thanks to all of you, who made me want to go on with my story since you liked it!  
I'm deeply touched.  
  
***********************  
  
The first week that Max was gone was Hell for Logan. Bling decided not to pursue his physical training for only 2 days, just to let him some time to  
absorb all of this, he knew it wasn't the best thing to do for his physical status, but the guy needed a break. Usually, Bling would have  
given him a kick in the butt, but Max's subject was a delicate one. All week long Logan was grumpy, not smiling, yelling about nothing to  
anything, brief, he wasn't in a good mood.  
Original Cindy came to see him a few times after work, trying to make him feel a little better, but it didn't really work. She was missing Max a lot  
too, so it wasn't easy for her to try to cheer up her Boo's sweetheart, when she herself was feeling like crap. 'Take care of my boy.' Max had  
asked her, so that's what she was doing.  
Cindy did it for Max, at first, but then she began to really like him, and she found herself spending more time with him. Sometimes, Kendra came too,  
but usually, it was her and Logan, alone. Original Cindy was living with Kendra now, and the latest was often at her boyfriend's place, so Cindy  
didn't have much trouble staying with Kendra, she was never there.  
  
She and Logan were often having dinner, about 2 times a week, and she was even eager to go there, to her own surprise. At first, they tried not to  
talk about Max, because she sensed that Logan was still too emotionnal about it, but one night that they were playing Chess togheter, he won, and  
that made him laugh because Max wasn't letting him win. Like EVER. So, he started to tell the story to Original Cindy, and it opened the flow of all  
sorts of memories about Max each other shared. They talked until they were both so tired they fell asleep on the couch. It was a deliverance to both  
of them to have talked about Max like that, the burden seemed less heavy. Their friendship grew stronger weeks after weeks, and it made Logan less  
sad and deep into thoughts. He still was walking on the moon from time to time, but the pain was fading gradually.  
  
It took him a month before being able to do Eyes Only's streaming videos again. When he started his research, he opened his drawer and saw Max's  
medical chart. 'Damn! I forgot I had this!' He started to read it, everything about her medical conditions and the experiments they made on  
her was there, as her DNA mix. His eyes came across Lydecker's name. 'Shit!' There was Lydecker's name where the father's name was supposed to  
be. Logan fixed the wall in front of him, thinking that Max's own Personal Anti-Christ was her flesh and blood. He continued his reading, learning  
that Max's mother had a spontaneous abortion at 2 months, and that they had to do something fast to not let the High Comander know about its  
failing. And since there wasn't any donor left, Lydecker, being the good samaritan he was, donate his sperm to science. Plus, he wanted to know if  
2 normal people could do a great soldier, since the other X5 had perfect donors with great skills, who had to pass tests.  
Logan closed the file, thinking that maybe it was better for Max not to know about this. 'If I ever see her again, I wont tell her, but if she  
asks me about it, I'll tell her the truth.'  
  
It was about 2 days later that Detective Matt Sung called Logan, telling him there has been a mystery death, that the guy seemed to have some  
military training since the outfit he was wearing looked like one, but it wasn't owned by any military base known to the people.  
  
"We don't have anything on him." Matt said to him.  
  
"What does he look like?"  
  
"I'm faxing it to you right now, but Logan, he's dead on the picture, so maybe you wont be able to see him well." Logan heard the fax  
machine and took the picture in his hand. 'Shit! Lydecker.'  
  
"Matt, I'm telling you to drop the case, drop it and don't ask questions or you'll end up dead before tomorrow."  
  
"What? Who is he?"  
  
"I can't tell you, but find anything to close the case. This is dangerous, and they will win over you Matt. Trust me, forget it. You know  
I usually want justice, but this? No, drop it." Logan waited impatiently for his friend's answer.  
  
"Fine Logan, if you tell me this, you must have good reasons."  
  
"Thank you Matt." And he hung up.'Damn it! If they killed Lydecker, it's because of Max and Brin's escape. So, who's the boss now?  
Was Lydecker the only one knowing how Max really looked?'  
  
The phone rang one night out of the blue. Logan woke up, and rolled fast to the phone. 'Max?'  
  
"Hello?" He asked, eager to hear Max's voice.  
  
"Logan? It's Sera Dwaine. I need to see you right away, it's urgent." She seemed in an hurry, and scared.  
  
"Sure." Logan told her his address, and waited for Sera. 'What's going on?'  
  
When Sera walked in, she was surprised to see him in a wheelchair.  
  
"I'm sorry for my behavior...I didn't know."  
  
"It's okay, I got shot over a year ago." He said to her.  
  
"Oh." He made her sit on the couch in the living room.  
  
"What can I do for you?" He looked at Sera, who was about 5 to 8 years older than him, has brown hair, short cut, and green eyes. She  
wasn't a beauty, but she was fine.  
  
"I need to get out of here, and fast. They killed Deck, and I think I'm next, they're having suspicions about my loyalty to the experiments.  
Max told me you could do pretty much anything."  
  
"I can't ovulate." He said, smiling at the idea of Max saying he could do anything. Sera smiled back.  
  
"Can you help me?"  
  
"Sure, I can get you out tomorrow if you want." He went to his computer and after 10 minutes, came back. "How about London, as  
Amanda Vartan?"  
  
"Great, and I'm good with the English accent too, it wont be a problem." She took a breath of relief. Logan explained to her how to  
be careful, and what she would have to do. And the day after, she flew away on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean.  
  
As the days went by, Logan started to come back to his old self. Bling had to get him out of his thoughts often, but it was all good. The  
downtroddens still needed him after all. 'And who knows, maybe she'll come back when everything will calm itself and settle down?' Hope of seeing her  
again was what made him get out of bed in the mornings.  
  
One day, he recieved a call from Sebastian, telling him that the new boss of Manticore had ordered a search all through Seattle. They were going  
East to West, so one night, Logan, Bling and Original Cindy took all computer machineries in the car to bring them to Sebastian's, so that they  
couldn't find anything at Logan's. Bling even pretended to be Logan to them. They were probably still looking for a guy in wheels, since they  
aren't millions in Seattle. After the search, they transfered all his electronic stuff and Sebastian's to Logan's apartment. Everything went  
very well.  
  
After this little adventure, Logan and Bling got to the point where it was for the best to put a security camera system in the place to know if and  
when someone gets in. And so they did, and Logan was very proud of him, because the careras were so tiny and well placed that even a professional  
eye could be fooled.  
  
One night, Original Cindy won a bet and Logan had to go out with her. They were going to Crash. And he made her swear that she wouldn't try matchmaking him with anyone.  
  
"I promess you Boo that I wont do it."  
  
"You better." It finaly ended that he was the one helping her with a chick she wasn't sure was into females or not. So Logan decided to go ask the chick and yes,   
she was into females. Her name was Nell, but she and Original Cindy didn't last a month.  
  
"Why can't I just find a nice chick with no wires crossed in her head? This one was a crazy bitch!" She said laughing. "I think she's freakin' taking 5 pills a day to   
stay in this world instead of seeing flying cows in the sky!" She took a bite of the dinner Logan had made.  
  
"Don't worry Cindy, he said to her smiling, you'll find a nice 'chick' one day, it's just that maybe you're looking too hard."  
  
"Me?! Are you turning wacko on me?" She paused, knowing perfectly well he was right. Everytime she saw a girl, she wanted to know if she was into females or not. "Well,   
you sure is going to find one soon, because you're not looking at all!" She wanted to kill herself the moment she said those words.  
  
"I'm sorry Logan, I didn't want..." He looked sad, staring at his meal.  
  
"I know, it's okay, you're forgiven." He lightly smiled back at Cindy.  
  
"I can be such a bitch sometimes! Original Cindy gotta learn to hold her tongue!" 'Before someone cuts it!' She thought.  
  
********  
  
They were now having dinner every week, it has become some kind of ritual. But yesterday, Original Cindy wasn't at Logan, so she didn't have any clue who the lipstick girl was.   
When Kendra came back, she left Max with her, and ran to Logan's apartment, furious. She knocked on the door and didn't wait for him to open, and stormed inside.  
  
"LOGAN?!" She yelled. "WHERE THE HELL IS YOUR SORRY MALE ASS?"   
  
Logan appeared in front of her, looking surprised at Original Cindy's attitude towards him. He opened his mouth to talk but she let him no time to speak.  
  
"Where's the bitch?" She asked Logan, in a tone that said 'Don't lie to me bastard, I know there's a bitch here!'  
  
"What?" What is she talking about?  
  
"One day you're still in love with her, and the day after you're seeing another chick? Have you lost your fucking mind? Original Cindy is furious right now! What's with you?  
She came back for your freakin' birthday, and THAT's what she's getting when she opened the door? Some lipstick glass and female's stuff all over the place? WHAT THE HELL IS   
WRONG WITH YOU?" Original Cindy stoped talking, the smoke going out of her ears as she calmed down. Logan's face was blank.  
  
"What?..." He repeated, uncertain of what she was talking about, but afraid to learn it.  
  
"Max! You jerk! She's in Seattle, at my place right now, but before, she came right here, and when she found woman's stuff all over the place, I don't have to tell you she was crying her   
heart out when I opened the door." She realized Logan had trouble breathing and that he was as white as milk.  
  
"Max...here?" He finaly said.  
  
" Are you deaf? That's what I just said, and Original Cindy is no liar. Who's the bitch?" She pointed the wine glasses on the counter.  
  
"Oh! no..." He now understood what the allusion to the 'bitch' was all about. "That is so wrong...it's Bella, she came here alone yesterday because of work, and I offered her to crash  
here!" He looked like a kid who had lost his puppy. "She left about an hour ago." 'Max...Max is here!...'  
  
Original Cindy started laughing.  
"Of course! That was SO obvious! Why didn't I think of it?...And here I thought you were joining the Wacko-Nell Club!" The phone rang and she answered. After a few minutes, she shouted: "Shit!   
Kendra! I leave you with her for only 30 minutes and you manage to fuck everything!" She hung up and turned towards Logan. "Max's gone, she decided she wasn't about to stay another   
second in this damn city, and left. Kendra wasn't able to stop her." Original Cindy stared at Logan, who was about to have an aneurysm. 'It stinks.' He looked helpless.  
  
"How could she think that...I...I..." He couldn't finish his sentence, feeling on the verge of a panick attack.  
  
"Breathe Logan..." Said Cindy to him. "I thought it too...How could she have known? Neither of you said you couldn't see other people..."  
  
"Just go please." He asked her, more like an order though. He stared at his feet. She looked at him, not sure if he should be alone or not. "Please go." Logan repeated.  
When Original Cindy left, he went to his computer room looking for footage of Max in the apartment. He clicked on the security system file and the images of Max appeared to him. 'Oh my god,  
it's true.' His blood was raising high in his veins, and his heart was pumping at an olympic rate. He saw everything since there was cameras everywhere. Logan stood there, watching Max as   
she came in, and the face she did when she smelled his sweater, and the was she reacted to the lipstick on the wine glass. He almost jumped in his chair when he watched her seize on the  
floor, wanting to put his arms around her. 'Oh! Max, how could you have thought I would ever be seeing someone else?' He wiped away the tears in his eyes, and closed them, trying to calm himself.   
'And now she's gone, thinking I replaced her...'  
Days after days, the pain didn't go away, it was like the old wound was re-open.  
  
Three months later, he got a call from Sera.  
"Hi Logan, I was talking to a collegue of mine about your situation, and I think he could help you getting some function in your legs again. That is if you're interrested." Who wouldn't?...  
  
"Who cares if I'm in the chair or not?" He said back, grumpy.  
  
"You do." She waited for an answer, but it was a dead silence. "It's still experimental and working only on those who used to walk before their injuries. I think it could work Logan,   
it's worth trying...what do you have to loose?"   
  
"Hope. I could loose hope." He answered back.  
  
"It's true, but to loose hope, you have to do something, and NOT coming, is doing nothing. It's your decision to take." Sera patiently waited.  
  
He thought about it for 5 minutes. 'It's been harder for me to do Eyes Only's research since Max left, and walking again could be great. Yeah, I could try I guess. Why should I want to stay in  
the chair if there's an opportunity to walk again? It would be stupid. I can do it, at least for me. Yeah, for me.'  
  
"What the hell, I could try..." Why not?  
  
Logan took the address of the British Medical Research Center where Sera 'Amanda' was working, and started packing his bags. He told Bling to watch the place for him, and got in   
the plane. "What do I have to loose?' He asked himself again, staring through the porthole.  
  
************************************************  
  
To be continued...  
Anna  
  
  



	39. The Reason I Survived

  
Author's note: When I first started this fanfic, it was right after the RED episode, so keep in mind that all that happened with the Reds happened  
in my fic too, but not the rising thing Logan did at the end. It's just to clear a few things that comes with this part.  
Oh yeah, and I'm not a doctor, so don't tell me the Tx doesn't work, I KNOW it probably doesn't or else there would be plenty of paralysed people  
walking among our streets. Thank you.  
  
*****************************  
  
When Max got back to Montreal after being there for not even a day, Vitoney stared at Max, who just opened the door and came in, with her  
mouth open.  
  
"Maya! What are you doing here? Shouldn't you?..." Vitoney stoped talking, seeing that her roommate wasn't in a really good mood.  
"It went THAT well, huh?"  
  
"There was a freakin' b1tch there! And I don't wanna talk about it." Max took her bag and went to her bedroom, banging the door when  
she closed it.  
  
"Great." Said Vitoney to herself, sarcastically. "She feels worst than before and it's because I pushed her to go. Good job Vee!"  
  
The months went by and the summer soon made his 'HELLO'. Max tried to focus her mind on other things than Logan, even if sometimes she said that  
she should have been waiting for him that day to kick his butt all through the other side of the state. But Max knew she wouldn't have done it. 'It  
would have felt so good though.' She turned away from the dishes she was washing, and looked at Vitoney, who had just came in.  
  
"Congratulations Vee!"  
  
"Finito! I'm done with school for the next 4 months...isn't it great?!" She smiled at Max.  
  
"We should go out tonight!" Max suggested to her.  
  
"Yes we should! It's been a long time since I went outside these 4 walls. It's always work/school, work/school, that's enough to make a girl  
crazy!"  
  
"I hear ya!" She came near Max to help her with the dishes.  
  
"Do you know what Vee? Maybe I overreacted with the b1tch thing...maybe there wasn't one."  
  
Vitoney looked at Max, surprised she's talking about it now, after months of silence. 'She still thinks about this?'  
  
"Did you ask him who she was?" She risked saying.  
  
"No, didn't have the time. I took off before." Max changed her focus on the dishes. "Who cares anyway...I shouldn't anymore. He's  
there, I'm here...he should have the right to do whatever he wants." She said to Vitoney, like she couldn't care less.  
  
"You don't believe a word you just said." She lightly smiled at Max.  
  
" I know." She said back, returning the smile. "It just makes it less painfull to think I don't care, and that he's a  
jacka$$!"  
  
"I know, when Alex, my ex, left me for a chick, I don't remember how many times I said to my friends I hated him and that I wanted him dead.  
But those who knew me well could see I was still madly in love with him, and that's what was hurting me so much." She suddenly had caught the  
attention of Max. "I couldn't let him go, despite all the pain and suffering he cost me, I still loved him. I had him under my skin, you  
know? And after 2 years or so, I started to let him go...I wonder sometimes if I'm still in love with him..." She went into her  
thoughts, only her could see, and smiled to the memories that came to her.  
  
" We're pathetic females!" Max said, bursting into laughs. It's been so long since she laughed that way.  
  
"I guess we are Maya." They both stood there, each of them thinking about the past. "And it hurts badly to think of him in the  
arms of another woman." Vitoney finaly said.  
  
"Tremendously." Replied Max.  
  
"He was my High School sweetheart. We did go out for, what, 5 years and 3 months. It was the best years of my life! And suddenly at 21, he  
came to me and told me he didn't love me anymore, and that he was in love with Melanie, a girl he was working with. I never saw it coming, not for  
once did I think he was going to leave me!" She faced Max. "I saw him again last year, with her...and their son." She made an  
untrue smile.  
  
"Outch!" Max said.  
  
"I'm okay now, but I cried for days afterwards...I still don't know if it was because I saw him again, or because he was still with her, and  
happy, that I reacted that bad. You know?"  
  
"Yeah, I think I do. Logan and I fell into each other's life without noticing it. He knew about my past, and I knew about his, and we just  
started a great friendship. We helped each others the best we could, and I still can't tell you the exact moment I fell in love with him. I don't  
remember a precise moment when I felt it for the first time. It's like it's always been there, week after week, without behing able to confess it  
to each other until it was too late to enjoy it. I had to leave." It was the first time Max talked about it, and Vitoney was deeply touched.  
  
"Why?" She risked asking. 'One can only hope she'll tell me the truth.'  
  
"Can you keep a secret Vee, really keep it?"  
  
"You know I can Maya." She was almost offended by it.  
  
"My real name is Max Guevara. I was raised in a military base as a secret project. But I escaped in 2019, and they've been looking for me  
ever since. Logan knew all about it, and saved my a$$ many times, but a year and a half ago, I got caught, and they tortured me mentally, and  
physically made me very weak. I couldn't escape by myself, but I have great friends, who put their butt in the line of fire for me, and I could  
get away. But this time, I was lucky. After I could get on my feet, I decided to leave, we decided it, Logan and me. It was a hard mutual  
choice, but we did it anyway. It's been 17 months now and maybe it's safer, I don't know."  
  
"Thank you for telling me a part of your life Maya...huh...Max." She said to her, not being at all horrified by her story. "So why  
don't you go back?"  
  
"The chick at Logan's."  
  
"Forget the damn chick!" Vee said to her almost angry. "That's the one you should kick her a$$ all throughout the  
United States!"  
  
"Maybe he doesn't think of me as much as I think of him. He deserves a normal girl with no death wish following her everywhere she goes."  
  
"But what if it's the death wish that he wants Max?" Vee was a perseverant girl.  
  
"You ask too many questions Vee!" Max said and got up.  
  
********  
  
It's been 2 months now that Logan was in London, having the treatments and doing physical therapy. Doctor Cobain, Sera's collegue had explained to  
him what the treatment was about. First, Logan had to do a well balanced diet to help regenerate the mucles, tissues and nerves of his body. And  
after that, he was going into passive/active physiotherapy to give strength to his legs. Logan got very interrested into the surgery, because  
it was a sort of implant rewirering his neural pathways in his spinal cord, to create a new way for the stimuli to reach his brain and feel.  
There was also a medication to help nerves growth. 'It's sounds a lot like the creepy metal insect stuck in Max's head to me!' Logan thought to   
himself. So, afterwards, hemade some research on Dr.Cobain, and found out he worked for the Reds before. But he had changed his name, so he was   
probably trying to get away from them. Logan made a deal with the guy.  
  
"I'm going to give you the 75,000$ you asked for, but to you, not the Medical Center. And for it, you erase me from here. I was never here, and I never was  
on the surgery table. It's very important that there must be NO papers whatsoever about me being in and out of the wheelchair, and I'll keep   
my mouth shut. Is that clear?" It was, the guy had a wife and kids, and he wanted to keep them.  
  
So Logan got under the knife again, and it took him about 3 weeks before being able to walk. It was hurting like hell in all his spinal cord, and he had to take   
medications to ease the unbarable pain. He even lost consciousness twice over it. He felt dumb about it, but Sera told him not to worry.   
"Remember how it hurts just to kick your elbow on a table? Well, now the pain is 10 times worst. Back pain are the worst of all pain. It's normal." So he began  
to walk without pain after 5 weeks, but he had to use crutches.  
  
"You probably will need them for a long period of time, if not forever." Doctor Cobain told him, giving him his medical chart.  
  
"It's fine, crutches are still better than a wheelchair for me. I was starting to have bruises on my butt because I was sitting on it 24 hours a day! Being able   
to stand is, believe me, a charm."  
  
Logan got back in Seattle in May. Eveybody seemed very surprised to see it has actually worked. Bling scheduled exercises 4 times a week for him, couldn't   
let him go that easily.  
Logan was glad to be on his feet again, he could now do leg work for Eyes Only, and it made him focus on something else than Max.  
The days went by, and it's been 17 months Max was gone.  
  
"I can't believe it's been 17 months!" He said to Original Cindy, who was eating her breakfast at Logan's, since Kendra was with Walter at their place, and  
she just couldn't stand the guy, so she crashed here.  
  
"I know, it's awfull. I wonder if she's ever gonna come back after what you did." She said to him, with her special Original Cindy face.  
  
"Please...Not the lecture again?!" He said back, waiting for the assault. "I feel bad enough over this as it is, okay?"  
  
"I still think that if you had taken 5 fuckin' minutes of your priceless time to make the dishes, she would have stayed!" She shouted to Logan.  
  
"Tell me about it..." He replied, grumbling.  
  
Logan walked to his computer and clicked on the e-mail he had just recieved from his source.  
  
"Shit!" He yelled out loud. "What the hell?" Original Cindy came near him.  
  
"What's goin' on Boo?"  
  
"Sera was in a fire explosion last night in London, and it was criminal...Oh! It's bad...it's really bad." He scratched his hair.  
  
"Why does it say Amanda Vartan then?"  
  
"Because she changed her name after escaping from Manticore. Damn!"He stood up and went to his bedroom packing his bags.  
  
"What are ya doing?" She asked, as if to say 'again'.  
  
"I have to go there, and find out what happened and who did this. If Manticore is involved in this, Max could be in danger too." He put his clothes without any   
cautions in the suitcase. "You can stay here as long as you want. I know you're not Walter's most fervent fan."  
  
"Thanks." She said, watching him storming out of the place without even looking behind. 'This guy has lost his mind! Yeah...he lost it the day he met my Boo!'   
She walked to the couch and sat down. 'If only I had someone as passionate for me as he is for her...'  
  
***********  
  
When Logan got to the hospital where Sera was, he looked for what room she was in.  
  
"Excuse me, where's Amanda Vantan's room?" He asked the nurse at the desk.  
  
"Are you family Sir?"  
  
"Yes, I'm her cousin." Hehehe...  
  
"Okay then, follow me." Before entering the room, she gave him a blouse, a pair of gloves and a mask to breathe in. "You're from America? The accent..."  
  
"Yes. Why all of this?"  
  
"Well, she's been severely burned, and in those cases, they are at high risks for infections. I have to warn you it's not pretty to see, and she's still unconscious."  
  
"Will she live?" Good God...  
  
"The statistics are in her favor, but with third degree burns, we never know how the body may react from one person to another. I'm sorry, just don't get your   
hopes too high."  
  
When Logan got into the room, he got nauseous. Sera's skin was severely burned, and you could see there was almost no skin. There was some bandages, but it wasn't covering   
it all. She had a tube in her throat, and there was a Morphine pump giving her regular dosage to ease the pain. 'If that was Max there instead of Sera, I think  
I'd loose my mind!' He thought.  
Not being able to stay longer, he got out of the room and sat on the bench near the entrance.  
  
"Are you alright Sir?" The nurse asked him, in her perfect British accent. "I know it can be a shock, take your time and breathe...push your head down." Logan listened to her  
and tried to calm himself. She sat next to him.  
  
"Do you know what happened?"  
  
"They were three in the house, but only Mrs. Vartan got seriously injured. The police officer said that she and her collegue, a Cobain guy or something, were having dinner   
with his wife, and she was in the bathroom when it exploded. She got most of it, but she wasn't the target. The officer talked about some African Goverment or something.  
I don't know all the story, but I can give you his number though."   
  
"Yes, thank you. I'll be fine now."  
  
All through the week, he looked for clues and went to see the Detective who was in charge of the case. It looked like the Reds weren't very happy about the new experiment of Cobain,   
and they decided to act. They seem to be very powerful, because even if the police knows about them, they can't stop them. Anyway, nobody knew Sera's true identity, so she was safe. They were both safe, she and Max.  
  
************  
  
Max was coming back from work when she heard Vitoney going out of her bed and opened the door of her bedroom.  
  
"Good morning Vee!" Max said, looking happy. That was a weird thing for Vitoney to find Max in that happy state.  
  
"What's with you this morning...Where's coffee, I need coffee...didn't sleep very well last night." She said 'sleepily'.  
  
"Well, I almost never sleep myself, but we wont go there...Hey?! Do you know what?"  
  
"What..." Vee answered, almost annoyed by her roommate, and still in her sleepy state before taking her first sip of coffee.  
  
"You were right!" Max said, still smiling. 'Did she lost her mind?' Vitoney thought.  
  
"I was? When?" I don't remember ever being right...   
  
" I'm sick of hiding and waiting, and I miss my people. I think I'll go back to Seattle." Vitoney turned her head and stared at Max. 'So THAT was why she was deeply into her thoughts all week!'  
  
"Really?" Did I miss something here?  
  
"Yes. I thought it through...I'm ready." Max said, happy about her decision.  
  
"I don't want to spoil your happyness, but what about the bitch?"  
  
"I'll deal with her when she'll step in my face." Max said, looking determined to do so.  
  
"Maybe you should call before?" Surely don't want her to come back in 10 hours looking like the last time...  
  
"I'll do that." Max walked by the phone and dialed her old number. No answer. She then dialed Logan's number. Original Cindy answered after 8 times.  
  
"Hey." She said in an awakening voice, and not too happy about it.  
  
"Hey Boo!" Max yelled in her ear.  
  
"Max?! What the fuck did you have to wake me up at 7:00 in the morning on a sunday?!" She shouted to Max.  
  
"Well, hello to you too, I'm so happy to hear your voice..." Max said in a teasing voice. "Why are you at Logan's?"  
  
"Walter's in my bathtub...if you know what I mean."  
  
"Arrkkk!" Said Max. "Don't tell me no more, I don't want to have nightmares...Where's Logan?"  
  
"He's out of town. London."  
  
"What? Why?"   
  
"Because the Sera chick got her ass bombed, and he went there to see if Manticore was involved or not. She ran away from there a few months ago."  
  
"When did it happen?" Max asked anxiously.  
  
"A few days ago, a week I think. I'm freakin' sleeping here!"  
  
"Well, yelling at me like that, I think you're pretty much awake!" She was about to hang up when she heard Original Cindy yelling at her to not hang up.   
"What is it?"  
  
"Now Boo, listen to me carefully, because Original Cindy wont say it twice."  
  
"I'm all ears."  
  
"Max, there wasn't any bitch. It was Bella's lipstick on the wine glass. There wasn't any chick here since the day you left. Capish? What a  
fucking jackass you were to run out like Speedy Gonzales! You broke his heart!"  
  
"And what about my heart? You're taking his side now?" Asked Max, happy to see it has been only Bella, but sad to hear her friend take Logan's side over her's.  
  
"I'm on both side Max. That guy is still crazy about you, you should have seen him when he thought Manticore was involved in that explosion. He was walking around   
the damn place like a freafin' nut!"  
  
"Walking?..."Asked Max after a few seconds of silence.  
  
"Huh, yeah..." Original Cindy explained to Max the surgery he had, and that he was now walking. 'He's using crutches though."  
  
Max wasn't speaking, still absorbing the news. 'Logan...on his two feet? I'm so happy for him!'  
  
"Look. don't come here if it's to leave again. I love you Boo, but you can't keep doing this to him." Original Cindy softly said to her. "Do you know what  
he told me once? He told me that the only reason he didn't die in that shooting 2 years ago was because fate has wanted him to meet you. He said that you  
were the reason he survived Max." Original Cindy stoped talking. Max felt the tear rolling down her cheek.  
  
"I've been a jackass." She said to her friend.  
  
"Well Max, we both were."  
  
"Give me his phone number there." She gave it to Max, telling her also at which hotel he was staying.  
  
"Thanks Boo, you're the best." Max hung up, and began to walk from one end to the other of the living room. Vitoney watched her in silence.  
  
"What is it? You're making me nervous!"  
  
"My friend's been bombed, there wasn't any bitch at Logan's, EVER, he's walking again, and both he and her are in London...and I don't have a freakin' penny!"  
She talked like a robot, continuing her cat walk.  
  
"Do you want to go?" Vitoney asked her.  
  
"I just told you I don't have any money, and I can't steal..."  
  
" I'm not asking you if you have money, I'm asking you if you WANT to go?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Then pack your bags, I'll give it to you. My father send me a few bucks last week for my birthday, and I didn't spend it yet."  
  
"I'm not letting you give me your father's gift!"  
  
"Will you just shut up and go pack your bags?!" Max came near Vitoney and hugged her.  
  
"Thank you, I wont forget this." And she ran in her bedroom to pack a few clothes.  
  
  
To be continued...  
*************************  
  
Reviews, reviews, reviews...pleeaaaaaasssseee!!  
Anna  
  
  



	40. It's In The Way You Are

This is it folks! I'm giving you the last chapter of SHE, there will be no more for now, one day  
maybe, who knows? But for now, it's the END. I want you to know how much I appreciate your support,   
it's not easy to write in another language, and you didn't poke me too much about it. Thank you.   
So, I'm living you with this, and I want to say that I'll be writing other DA fanfiction, I just   
didn't start one yet, but it will come! lol!  
And I'm SO sorry it took me that long! But enjoy!...  
  
DISCLAMER: I don't own any of them, althought many of you knows I wouldn't mind owning Logan or Micheal Weatherly.  
  
AUTHOR'S NOTE: The title of 'SHE' came from the beautiful song written by Charles Aznavour, and Elvis  
Costello was the signer. A very beautiful song, who I think, is pretty much what Logan thinks of Max.   
I may write you the lyrics if you want to, just tell me and it will be a pleasure to do so.  
  
********************************  
  
When Max got out of the plane, she looked for a map of the town and took a bus ticket. When she got in front of   
the Royal British Hotel, she stoped in front of the door, taking a deep breath. 'I hate those doors.' Max thought.  
It was those big round doors that you have to push while they're rolling in the center. She walked in, looking for   
a sign of Logan. No one. 'Great.' Max walked to the reception desk and asked for a room. She gave a part of the money  
Vitoney had given her, and paid for 3 nights in advance.   
  
"Thank you. Now, may I ask which room Logan Cale's is?" The young man stared at her, very much aware that she was   
using her charms to get what she wanted.   
  
"I don't have the priviledge of giving you this information Madame." He said to Max very politely.  
  
" Look, I came back from America okay, and I wont leave the spot where I'm standing right now until you give it to me.   
Is THAT clear?" She said, still smiling and not raising her voice, but you could see she was pissed off. "Please, I'm not asking for much,   
just my friend's room." She made him her most charming smile. He totally melt before her eyes.  
  
"...Ahem...huh...Just let me see..." He typed Logan Cale on the computer and pressed enter. "I'm sorry but no Logan Cale has registered here."  
  
'Damn! He must have changed his name!' She thought. At that moment she saw Logan coming in the lobby. 'Shit!' She  
ran besides the clerk and kneeled under the desk. His eyes went wide open and she made a sign not to say a word about her. For some reason,   
he listened.  
  
"Can I help you Sir?"   
  
"Yes." Said Logan, not having a clue Max was hiding behind the desk. "Do you have any message for me?"   
  
"Let me see...what is your name Sir?"   
  
"Bruce Wayne." He answered.   
  
"No Mr. Wayne, no messages."   
  
"Thank you, and good night." Logan left to his room, waiting for the elevator to open, and looking strangely at the young clerk who was fixating him like a kid   
would fix a weird looking person. 'What's with him?' Logan thought before walking in.  
  
Max stood up and stared at the elevator doors to see if they would reopen. They didn't.  
"Thank you for not saying anything. Lets talk buisness." She said to him. "THAT was the guy I want to know where is room is, now I give you two choices. First, you   
give it to me, or second, I take it from your computer. So, which is it?" She stared at him. "I swear I'm not a stalker or a maniac. I'm crazy in love with him   
and I want to do him a surprise. Please. I've already said 'please' way too many times for what I'm used to, I wont   
say it again."   
  
" Room 654, but I never gave it to you." The young man said to Max.  
  
"Of course not. But you wont have any problem with this, I promess you he wont sue." She took her key, number 314, and got into the elevator. 'Good, I'm not on the same floor.'  
She opened her room and sat in the bed after having closed the door. 'Good God! I thought I was going to have an heart attack when I first heard his voice.' She said to herself.  
Her blood pressure was over the top, her pulse hitting the arteries like an old lady who just got rob. 'Oh! Logan...you didn't change much. You're now on your two feet,  
but besides that, everything is just the same. Your eyes, your lips...those sweet, sweet lips!' She got up and went to the bathroom to take a shower. It was about 9:30 PM. It was   
hot and sticky outside, and a cold shower was very much welcome after 6 hours or so in the plane. She just couldn't stop herself from thinking about Logan. 'Maybe I should call   
him first? What if his reaction to me is frantic or something? Yeah, I should call before, I guess that if I was him, I'd like for me to have a clue I'm gonna step in my life again. This way,   
I'll know if he wants to see me or not, and if it's better for me to return to Montreal and never look back again.' She took a deep breath. 'Please be receptive to me Logan...' She  
got out of the shower and put a T-shirt on. She looked at the clock and it said 10:00PM sharp. 'He's not sleeping at this hour, I know he's not.' She took the paper she had wrote his phone number on   
that Original Cindy had given her and stared at it like it could explode. 'Do I?' She took a deep breath, seeing she was nervous as hell about this. 'I better do it right now or I'll never do it!' She picked up   
the phone and dialed. It rang 2 times before answering.  
  
"Hey." Said Logan. Max suddenly panicked and wondered what to say to him. 'Why am I putting myself through all this?' "Hello?" He repeated.  
  
"Hey stranger." Max finaly said, knowing perfectly he would recognize her voice even after almost 2 years of silence.  
  
Logan sat down on his bed, happy there has been one behind him or he would have fell on the floor. He stood there, mouth open, not knowing what to do. His heart was beatting like crazy in his  
chest, ready to jerk out of it if necessary, his mind twisted with confusion. 'What the hell? Max? After all this time? Max!...It's Max! Oh! God! Who does she think she is to call me? Oh!  
Sweet Max!...What does she want for crying out loud at this hour? It's so good to hear her voice...Does she think I'll do like nothing happened?! Oh! Max...' Logan was very confused and didn't  
really know how to react, not wanting her to run again, but feeling all the pain she had cost him. 'I've cost her pain too...'  
  
"Max!" He finaly said in a voice that clearly was surprised.  
  
"Hello Logan...please listen to me before saying anything. I called at your place and Cindy told me you were here and she gave me your number." She sounds as nervous as I am, Logan thought, which   
helped him calm down a little.  
  
"Oh." And then there was silence. 'What does she want me to say? What's up?! '  
  
" Do you want me to hang up and not call you again Logan?" Max asked him reluctantly, after a few minutes of silence, each other absorbing the fact that they were talking after so many months.  
  
"NO! Please, don't hang up Max...I'm just...surprised...I don't know what to say." He scratched his hair while Max was holding her breath on the opposite side of the phone line. "It feels so good to hear your voice again Max."   
Logan softly said, emotionnaly.   
  
"Yours too." Max replied, happy to have heard the invitation she was waiting for. She felt the tension fade between them. "I'm so sorry Logan for having reacted like a jackass on your birthday." She said to him, wanting  
to put this incident behind them the faster the better.  
  
"I would probably would have done worst if it's been me." He said back. "I would have waited to kick your skinny ass." He laughed, remembering the fight they have had a while ago about this. Max remembered it too.  
  
"For the record, I do NOT have a skinny ass!" She answered, laughing too. "But seriously, I shouldn't have. It was childish of me..."  
  
"No it wasn't. It's how people in love react." With those words coming out of his mouth, he stoped talking, feeling awkward.   
  
"Am I forgiven then?"   
  
"Yes, I forgive you. Plus, Cindy thinks I was the jackass one for not having done the dishes."   
  
Max laughed.   
  
"That too!"   
  
They talked about nothing and everything for about an hour, and then Max asked Logan about Sera.   
  
"Will she be okay?" He could feel she was scared for her friend, and he took great care of telling her the truth about the prognostic, and in which condition she is. Logan heard her choked for air, thinking she was probably keeping   
herself from crying.   
  
"I'm deeply sorry to give you such news Max."  
  
"I know Logan...it's just awfull to think of her this way."   
  
"Yeah, it's not pretty to see. I was so relief to see it wasn't you in that bed Max..." He paused. There was a silence, and then Max decided to ease the atmosphere.  
  
"Original Cindy told me you were walking? That is so great Logan!" She said to him, genuinely happy for him.  
  
"Thanks, it's not 100% perfect, but I'm walking!" He took a breath, looking for something to say. "And you? Tell me about your 17 months in North America." He asked her, not even looking at the clock, he was so glad to hear Max's voice,   
and he didn't want to hang up. She told him about her job in a Second Cup, which made him laugh because he knew how much Max is addicted to coffee, and he listened to her talking about Vitoney, her roommate, and how she met her,  
and how much of a good heart she has.   
  
"She reminded me of you." Max said, and then saw what time it was. "I'll have to hang up now Logan, it's past 3:00."  
  
"Really?" He said surprised, which wamed Max's heart to see he didn't even see the hours pass. "Max! It's going to cost you 2 legs and an arm! Please send me the bill." He asked her.  
  
"Don't worry about it Logan, it's all taking care of." She said, trying not to laugh over it. "I'll call you back tomorrow to take some news about Sera, is it fine with you?"  
  
"Sure. Call anytime." They silently smiled to each other and hung up.  
  
Logan stayed in place, not moving an inch, thinking about what just happened. 'Max called! I just talked to her over 5 hours...I can't believe it!' The old feeling came back in his heart so strongly present, it was almost hurting him. It seemed like it was yesterday   
that she'd left. 'Dear Max...' He smiled to himself in the dark of his room.  
  
Max didn't close an eye of the night, and neither did Logan. Both overwhelmed by the adrenaline rush it has given them. She opened her door about 5 times, wanting to go knock on his door, but every time, she came back to her room. 'Knowing he's just so near me is pure torture!' She   
said to herself in the dark of the night. 'He said it was great to hear my voice...' She smiled. 'He still loves me.'  
  
**************  
  
The day after, Logan woke up at noon, too tired to get out of bed before, since he had fallen asleep at 6 o'clock this morning. Max had called him yesterday, and that made him in a very good mood. He went to the hospital to see Sera, and she was awake, which made him a very happy guy.   
She was going to be alright. Badly burned, but alright. He made the arrangements for her to be transfered into a private facility, and it was all good. Sera was going to start skin transplant soon. When Logan left, he thought she was in a pretty good mood for someone who's been burned on  
the third degree and who's just been out of a coma. But what he didn't know is that Max had come to visit her this morning, and she had told Sera to promess her not to say a word.   
  
At 6:00 his phone rang again. It was Max.   
  
"So, how is she?" Asked Max, knowing how she was since she's been there this morning. 'I'm lying for a good cause.' She told herself.  
  
"She woke up this morning Max!" He said to her full of joy.  
  
"Wonderful!" Max forced herself to sound legitimate in her happiness. She giggled about it. "That's fabulous!" 'Okay Max...too much is like not enough.'  
  
"Max?" Logan asked her, suddenly very serious.  
  
"Yes Logan?" He's creeping the hell out of me...  
  
"I wish you were here with me." He simply said. She closed her eyes, enjoying the moment.  
  
"Me too." She smiled to herself like she had not smile for ages. "You didn't ask me why I first called your place when Original Cindy answered yesterday. Were you being polite not asking, or you don't want to know?" She frankly said.  
  
"I was being polite." Logan honestly answered.  
  
"I want to come home Logan. I miss everybody too much. I miss YOU too much." Max softly said, waiting for him to speak.  
  
"I terribly miss you too Max." 'God I miss you...'  
  
"Does it mean you have no objection to my returning?" Max asked Logan in a teasing voice.  
  
"My door is open to you Max...anytime." 'She's coming back...Am I dreaming again?' He pinched his skin between his fingers until it hurts. "OUTCH!" He said out loud.  
  
"Are you okay?"   
  
"Yeah!" He said laughing to himself. "I promess you the dishes will be done when you'll open the door this time!"   
  
"You better!" She answered his laugh by one too. "I have to go help Vitoney now, I'll call you later."   
  
"Bye Max." He hung up and decided to eat his diner outside, on the terrace of the hotel's restaurant. It looked like a garden and it was very lovely. 'I'm in the mood...so why not?' There wasn't a lot a people.  
  
*****************************  
  
Max looked at herself in the mirror before going out of her room to meet Logan. She'd just taken a shower, had put a short burgundy dress, very well adjusted to her features, and strapless. She fixed her reflection in the mirror, she wasn't used to wear that   
kind of clothes, but she didn't want to wear jeans and a T-shirt for her reunion with Logan. She wanted to feel pretty. 'Funny huh?' She thought. 'I usually don't care about what others think.' Her dark hair was now longer, in the middle of her back. She applied a   
light make-up on her face and decided it was 'Showtime!' She went down the stairs, knowing Logan was eating outside. She went to see the young clerk and took the cellphone he was giving her.  
  
"Thank you, I'll give it back to you." She dialed Logan's cellphone number, and looked at her watch. 9:00. 'Perfect.' She took a peek outside and saw Logan, alone, at a table, sipping his wine slowly. She walked like a cat, to not be seen, and sat down on a   
chair so that she knew he wasn't going to see her. It was dark outside, just a few lights to make it charming. He answered after the first ring. Smiling.  
  
"Couldn't wait any longer to hear my voice, could you?' He said, teasingly. 'Oh! He's playing...It's going better than I thought.' Max said to herself.  
  
"You got me! What if it has been someone else?"  
  
"Couldn't have been...I knew it was a gorgeous dark goddess who was calling me at this exact moment."  
  
" Really?...Didn't I tell you I was a blond now?" She lied to him, keeping herself from bursting into laughs when she saw his face drop blank.  
  
"You're kidding me?" He asked, unsure. 'I SO loved her hair...'  
  
"Of course I'm kidding Logan! Me? A blond? Wouldn't fit very well." She was laughing now.  
  
"Gosh...you scared me for a second! Please spare me angina..." He took another sip of wine.  
  
"It was too easy...I had to do it! I could just imagine you, almost choking with your sip of wine while your eyes were bursting out of your head!" Max said to him, still laughing.  
  
"Oh! yeah?" Logan asked. "Who said I was drinking wine?"  
  
" On a beautiful day like this? Who WOULDN'T want a bottle of wine to sip?!" She stoped, waiting for a reaction. He stoped smiling and looked at the sky. "Oh! You're good...you   
almost had me here! You watched the weather channel!"   
  
"You think too much Logan...Seriously, I can picture you sitting alone on a beautiful night outside your hotel, drinking your wine quietly. And I'm just wondering 'Why a handsome man like him is alone on a night like this!' That is such a shame...and he's  
wearing his blue shirt too...my favorite." She saw him stoped the movement of his arm in the air and delicately put the wine glass on the table. He nervously moved on his chair, looking around, suddenly alert of his surronding.  
  
"How did you know?...You're joking right?" He stood up and started to look around.   
  
" Logan? Have you lost something?" Max added, to make him more nervous. 'I'm liking this way too much!' She thought.  
  
"Max don't play this game with me." He said to her in a very unsure voice.  
  
"What game?" She asked innocently.  
  
"Oh, oh, oh, oh...I KNOW you, remember? Where are you calling me from?" He asked, still looking around, but seeing nothing.  
  
"From a phone." hehehe...  
  
"Max! Where are you? I know you're here damn it!" He suddenly stoped talking, feeling her presence.  
  
"I'm right behind you." Max wispered to him. He slowly droped his phone on the table in front of him, while Max hung up hers, and turned towards her, almost afraid of what he might find. He almost choked when he saw Max standing just a few inches  
away from him, looking stunning.   
  
"I can't believe this..." He said with practically no voice.  
  
"Surprise." She said very seriously, not keeping her eyes away from his, her heart racing at 200 miles an hour.  
  
Logan stared at her without blinking, wondering if she would disappear if so.  
"You're so beautiful...God Max, is this for real? It's another of my dream isn't it?" He said to himself more than to her. "That's it, I lost my mind... I'm dreaming while being totally awake! You're just a dream...I'll touch you and then, you'll vanish in thin air." He   
said, his eyes swelling with tears.  
  
"It's not a dream Logan...I'm really here." Max put a hand on his chest and walked near him. She lean her head against his shoulder and embraced him, holding him tight.  
  
"Sweet Jesus!" He whispered to himself, closing his arms on Max, holding her as close to him as he possibly could.  
They stood there in silence, holding one another, for a long time.   
  
"I can't believe I'm here holding you in my arms. After so long..." 'If I'd die right at this second, I'd die a happy man!' He thought.   
  
"I can't believe it either."   
  
"Oh! Max...you smell so good..." Logan said to her, his head buried in her hair.  
  
"I missed your smell...I SO missed it!" Max said to Logan placing her eyes in front of his, staring into their depths. "And I so missed your lips."   
  
" Oh god...I'm still dreaming..." He said to her, carressing her face, leaning down his head a little to meet those full lips he'd so wanted to kiss again. It was at first sweet and gentle, but the contact of their tongues just send them an electrifying current all throughout their bodies.   
As the kiss grow deeper and deeper, the tension rose higher and higher, and they were holding on to each other so tightly you could wonder who was who.   
  
Max felt Logan's hard masculinity on her, and he soon was aware she was now aware too. He broked the kiss.  
  
"I'm sorry Max...I couldn't help myself." He said to Max, looking at her as if she was a piece of meat, which made her smile devilishly. "Do you have any idea what you're doing to me right now?" Logan said to Max, staring into those big brown eyes he thought he'd never see again.  
  
"I do..." Max said, smiling at him. "Come with me..." She took Logan's hand, asking him to follow her.  
  
"Give me a minute Max! I'm not going up stairs like this!?"   
  
"I don't mind." She said to him, licking her upper lip with her tongue while giving him a whore-ify look.  
  
"Max...you're not helping right now..." He said back, trying to focus his mind elsewhere than on the gorgeous female in front of him, giving him looks he'd rather not see right now. She walked toward him and smacked her lips on his, kissing him hungrily, and making things worst for Logan   
who was now totally under her spell..   
  
"There's nobody in the hallway Logan, no one will see you, and if they do, I'll cover you."  
  
"Oh, you'll cover me?!" Logan said smiling.   
  
"My pleasure." She answered from her wicked smile.  
  
"You're completely Evil!"  
  
"That's what 17 months away from you does to me." She took him by the hand and they walked in, and she has been right, there was no one in there. Max left the cellphone on the desk and they took the elevator. Just before the doors opened on the 6th floor, Max spoke.  
  
"You know Logan...you and me in an elevator sounds very interresting..." And she smiled.  
  
"Come on Max, just get out!" He said to her, pushing her on the back of his room door, and kissed her. "You don't think straight right now."   
  
"I know." They entered Logan's room. "There's one in your tower back in Seattle..." Her mind was still stuck of the elevator.  
  
"I'll keep that in mind..." They stared at each other, without moving. "You're so beautiful Max." Logan said to her, putting his crutches on the back of the wall, and took her by the waist, still staring at her with great desire.   
He began to kiss her neck and slowly went to her earlobe, delicately sucking it. Max felt her body shiver from his touch, and she started to take his shirt off, carressing his soft skin, Logan leaned forward to meet her lips, but she turned her face before he could meet them.   
  
"Wait." She wispered to him. "The waiting makes it better..."  
  
"Because it CAN get better than it already is?..." He asked pleasantely.  
  
"Exactly." She answered, gently brushing his light hair from his chest, and then she took one of his nipple in her mouth, teasing it until it got excited. Max kissed his chest and slowly rose to his earlobe. Logan groaned something, and turned his head to meet her lips again, but Max did   
the same thing.   
  
"Max...please..." He almost pleaded.  
  
"You know..." She said to Logan in a very sensuous way. "How sometimes, you want something so bad it's making you nuts? And when you KNOW you really WONT have it, it's making you crazy?" She started to unzip his pants, having caught his attention.  
  
"You're the one who's crazy..." He said back to her, fire in his eyes.  
  
"And then, " Max continued, "just because you CAN'T have it, IT's becoming the ONLY thing on your mind..." She Max took the edge of his pants and boxers and slowly pushed them down, taking them off, with the shoes and socks too of course. Max could hear his breathing getting faster.   
She stood up, kissing each parcel of skin she could find, and she stoped a breath away from his lips, aware of him fixing hers constantly. "The waiting...makes it better." She carressed his back, still staring into his eyes, and went down to his butt. "So soft." She said to Logan, who sort of smiled back.  
  
"Max..." He said to her, when he felt her hand on his hard penis, gently rubbing it. "Max...I wont ...please...it's been too long, and I don't want it to be done without it began."  
  
"Oh...it began...but if you insist..." And she put her hand elsewhere. "What?" She asked him, innocently after finding him staring at her intensively without moving.  
  
Without saying a word, Logan started unzipping her dress, and he let it slide at her feet.  
"Magnificent..." He said back to her, so close to her lips, but not touching them. He saw she wanted to kiss him tremendously. He did like he was about to put them on hers, but he too could play, and he pass them to go meet her neck, and gently, softly, kissed the sensitive spot below the ear, while  
his hands were occupied trying to untie her black silk bra. Logan felt her body shiver and trembling from his touch, and he was also very much aware of Max's hands carressing every inch of skin he has. 'God it feels sooo good' They both thought. He carressed her breasts with his hands, and took one nipple   
between his teeth, teasing it with his tongue, they were already highly sensitized before he started to play with them, which made Max groan. His hands went to her hips, taking each side of her panties to slide them down her legs, carressing them doing so.   
"So beautiful..." He repeated to her. He still couldn't believe she was standing in front of him, inches away, naked.  
  
They couldn't get enought of each other's skin, each of them trembling from desire, grabing a piece of skin they could get their hands on and playing with it, kissing all they could meet, but the lips.   
  
"Logan..." Max was starting to be highly excited, but he knew she needed more excitement than the average woman, so he slided his fingers between her lips and started massaging her core. "Oh my god...", she said out loud, "Have you any idea what you're doing to me?" She said in a whisper, feeling her legs about to collapse.  
  
"I do..." Logan said to Max, reaching her face, both staring into the depths of each other's eyes, feeling the other's touch so badly it was almost too much to bare, trembling from head to toe, tickling from everywhere. They were breathing heavily, and Logan smiled at Max.  
  
"May I now?" He said staring at her lips with envy, feeling his own lips being very sensitize by the blood who was now extremely fiiling them to be so. As an answer, Max gave him her most wicked smile, and she pushed her lips on his, their tongues finding each other with out much trouble, deepening the kiss as the seconds passed,   
embracing one another tightly, like the other would vanish if not so, each corner of their skin in contact, hungry as hell.   
They found themselves on the bed without knowing which one had bring the other there, the feeling of each other's touch after almost 2 years of absence was enough to drive them to Heaven. They explored their bodies until the moment they were both so excited they couldn't wait anymore. The exact moment Logan got inside  
of Max, they both stoped all movement, stunned by the feeling.   
  
"You feel so good." Said Max out of breath, and he began to move in and out of her, slowly at first, and then going faster and faster. She rolled him under her and moved on him doing circles, engulfing him more and more within her.  
  
"You're going to kill me..." Logan said, caressing her hips, and starting to see that Max was about to come. And she did.   
She felt the orgasm, waves after waves, and Logan had started teasing her core just before, which gave her more sensations. She felt herself lose all muscle tone and droped herself on him, who came not long after and emptied himself in her.   
  
" Amazing." Max said.  
  
" You're amazing." He said to her while carressing her face, and putting away a lock of hair from her face.   
They stayed into each other's for some time, not wanting to move because they knew it would make them feel as if they were still miles appart.   
  
"I'm so happy you came Max." Logan said to her truthfully.  
  
"Me too." She said back, lifting her head to kiss his lips. "I love you so much I wonder how I could do 17 months away from you."  
  
"I know. I tried so hard to forget you because of the pain it did to me, but I never could, all I did was thinking about you. I never stoped loving you Max, don't ever think I did."   
  
"I never stoped either Logan. And before we go back to Seattle, would you mind stoping in Montreal? I want you to meet the reason I'm here tonight."  
  
"It will be my please to personaly thank that roommate of yours." Logan said to Max, smiling.  
  
"I feel so safe in your arms right now, I never want to leave." She hold him tight.  
  
"Then don't." He replied to her, kissing her forehead.  
  
"I'm not going anywhere..." Max said to Logan, kissing him passionately, which started another sweet love making.  
  
THE END  
*******************************************  
  
Please, tell me if you liked or not. I have to tell you that it took me so long writting it, that's unbelivable how long it took me. I'm not really used to describe   
that sort of thing, and trying to find the right words in english was, for me, a hell of a challenge! lol! I hope I did not do too bad of a job here, and if it sucked, I'm deeply sorry!   
  
If you never reviewed, please do, I like to know who did read my story, and I don't bite, even if Skye thinks I do, I don't!   
  
Thank you To my OREO fellow ladies!!  
Anna   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	41. It's In The Way You Are

  
This is the song that insired me to write my fanfic!  
"SHE", written by Charles Aznavour, and the singer is Elvis Costello. I basically bought the Original Soundtrack of NOTHING HILL  
only for that song. I know...I'm crazy!  
  
She, may be the face I can forget  
The trace of pleasure or regret  
Maybe my treasures are the price I have to pay  
She, may be the song that summer sings  
Maybe the chill that automn brings  
Maybe a hundred different things  
Within the measure of a day.  
  
She, may be the Beauty or the Beast  
May be the famine or the feast  
May turn each day into a Heaven or a Hell  
She, may be the mirror of my dreams  
The smile reflected in a stream  
She may not be what she may seem  
Inside her shell.  
  
She, who always seems so happy in the crowd  
Who's eyes can be so bright and so proud  
No one's allowed to see them when they cry  
She, may be the love that cannot hope to last  
May comes in need from shadows of the past  
That I'll remember until the day I die.  
  
She, may be the reason I survived  
The why I'm there for and alive  
The what I care for through the rough in many years  
  
Me, I take the laughter in her tears  
And make them all nice souvenirs  
From where she goes I've got to be  
The meaning of my life is SHE  
She....  
  
  
  
  
  



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